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\title{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}


\author{Sir Arthur Conan Doyle\\
{\normalsize Illustrations by Sidney Paget}}

\maketitle
\vspace*{\stretch{1}}

\noindent This preparer of this public-domain (U.S.) text is not known.
However, the Project Gutenberg edition (designated {}``advsh11'')
was converted to \LaTeX{} using \textbf{GutenMark} software and re-edited
(for formatting only) by Ron Burkey. Report problems to info@sandroid.org.

\begin{description}
\item [B~12/14/02]Proofing completed.
\item [C~12/28/02]Illustrations added, from bakerstreet221b.de. Fixed
several problems with quotation marks. Reintroduced the \pounds{}
symbol.
\item [D~01/30/08]{}``----'' was everywhere replaced with {}``---''.
\end{description}
\vspace{\stretch{1}}

\frontmatter


\pagestyle{myheadings} {\scriptsize \tableofcontents{}}\newpage


\mainmatter



\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE I. A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{A SCANDAL IN BOHEMIA}


\section*{\raggedright I.}

\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{I.}

To Sherlock Holmes she is always \textit{the} woman. I have seldom
heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses
and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt any
emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that one particularly,
were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He
was, I take it, the most perfect reasoning and observing machine that
the world has seen, but as a lover he would have placed himself in
a false position. He never spoke of the softer passions, save with
a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable things for the observer\mdsh{---}excellent
for drawing the veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained
teasoner to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely
adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which might
throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a sensitive instrument,
or a crack in one of his own high-power lenses, would not be more
disturbing than a strong emotion in a nature such as his. And yet
there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Irene
Adler, of dubious and questionable memory.

I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us away
from each other. My own complete happiness, and the home-centred interests
which rise up around the man who first finds himself master of his
own establishment, were sufficient to absorb all my attention, while
Holmes, who loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian
soul, remained in our lodgings in Baker Street, buried among his old
books, and alternating from week to week between cocaine and ambition,
the drowsiness of the drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen
nature. He was still, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime,
and occupied his immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation
in following out those clews, and clearing up those mysteries which
had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time to
time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to Odessa
in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up of the singular
tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, and finally of the
mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for
the reigning family of Holland. Beyond these signs of his activity,
however, which I merely shared with all the readers of the daily press,
I knew little of my former friend and companion.

One night\mdsh{---}it was on the twentieth of March, 1888\mdsh{---}I
was returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned
to civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I
passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated in
my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Study in
Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes again, and
to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. His rooms were
brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw his tall, spare figure
pass twice in a dark silhouette against the blind. He was pacing the
room swiftly, eagerly, with his head sunk upon his chest and his hands
clasped behind him. To me, who knew his every mood and habit, his
attitude and manner told their own story. He was at work again. He
had risen out of his drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent
of some new problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber
which had formerly been in part my own.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-scan-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Then he stood before the fire.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I think,
to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly eye, he waved
me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, and indicated
a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he stood before the
fire and looked me over in his singular introspective fashion.

{}``Wedlock suits you,'' he remarked. {}``I think, Watson, that
you have put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you.''

{}``Seven!'' I answered.

{}``Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more,
I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not tell
me that you intended to go into harness.''

{}``Then, how do you know?''

{}``I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting
yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and careless
servant girl?''

{}``My dear Holmes,'' said I, {}``this is too much. You would certainly
have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true that
I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful mess,
but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you deduce it.
As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has given her notice,
but there, again, I fail to see how you work it out.''

He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands together.

{}``It is simplicity itself,'' said he; {}``my eyes tell me that
on the inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes
it, the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they
have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round
the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. Hence,
you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile weather,
and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting specimen of
the London slavey. As to your practice, if a gentleman walks into
my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black mark of nitrate of silver
upon his right forefinger, and a bulge on the right side of his top-hat
to show where he has secreted his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed,
if I do not pronounce him to be an active member of the medical profession.''

I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his
process of deduction. {}``When I hear you give your reasons,'' I
remarked, {}``the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously
simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive
instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process.
And yet I believe that my eyes are as good as yours.''

{}``Quite so,'' he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing
himself down into an armchair. {}``You see, but you do not observe.
The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen the
steps which lead up from the hall to this room.''

{}``Frequently.''

{}``How often?''

{}``Well, some hundreds of times.''

{}``Then how many are there?''

{}``How many? I don't know.''

{}``Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That
is just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, because
I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are interested
in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle
one or two of my trifling experiences, you may be interested in this.''
He threw over a sheet of thick, pink-tinted note-paper which had been
lying open upon the table. {}``It came by the last post,'' said
he. {}``Read it aloud.''

The note was undated, and without either signature or address.

{}``There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight o'clock,''
it said, {}``a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a matter
of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of the royal
houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may safely be trusted
with matters which are of an importance which can hardly be exaggerated.
This account of you we have from all quarters received. Be in your
chamber then at that hour, and do not take it amiss if your visitor
wear a mask.

{}``This is indeed a mystery,'' I remarked. {}``What do you imagine
that it means?''

{}``I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before
one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories,
instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. What do you
deduce from it?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-scan-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I carefully examined the writing.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was
written.

{}``The man who wrote it was presumably well to do,'' I remarked,
endeavoring to imitate my companion's processes. {}``Such paper could
not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly strong
and stiff.''

{}``Peculiar\mdsh{---}that is the very word,'' said Holmes. {}``It
is not an English paper at all. Hold it up to the light.''

I did so, and saw a large {}``E'' with a small {}``g,'' a {}``P,''
and a large {}``G'' with a small {}``t'' woven into the texture
of the paper.

{}``What do you make of that?''\ asked Holmes.

{}``The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather.''

{}``Not at all. The `G' with the small `t' stands for `Gesellschaft,'
which is the German for `Company.' It is a customary contraction like
our `Co.' `P,' of course, stands for `Papier.' Now for the `Eg.' Let
us glance at our Continental Gazetteer.'' He took down a heavy brown
volume from his shelves. {}``Eglow, Eglonitz\mdsh{---}here we are,
Egria. It is in a German-speaking country\mdsh{---}in Bohemia, not
far from Carlsbad. `Remarkable as being the scene of the death of
Wallenstein, and for its numerous glass-factories and paper-mills.'
Ha, ha, my boy, what do you make of that?'' His eyes sparkled, and
he sent up a great blue triumphant cloud from his cigarette.

{}``The paper was made in Bohemia,'' I said.

{}``Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you
note the peculiar construction of the sentence\mdsh{---}`This account
of you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian
could not have written that. It is the German who is so uncourteous
to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover what is wanted
by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and prefers wearing
a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if I am not mistaken,
to resolve all our doubts.''

As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and grating
wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the bell. Holmes
whistled.

{}``A pair, by the sound,'' said he. {}``Yes,'' he continued,
glancing out of the window. {}``A nice little brougham and a pair
of beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in
this case, Watson, if there is nothing else.''

{}``I think that I had better go, Holmes.''

{}``Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Boswell.
And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity to miss it.''

{}``But your client\mdsh{---}''

{}``Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he
comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best attention.''

A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in
the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there was a
loud and authoritative tap.

{}``Come in!'' said Holmes.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-scan-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A man entered.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six inches
in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His dress was rich
with a richness which would, in England, be looked upon as akin to
bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed across the sleeves
and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while the deep blue cloak
which was thrown over his shoulders was lined with flame-colored silk
and secured at the neck with a brooch which consisted of a single
flaming beryl. Boots which extended halfway up his calves, and which
were trimmed at the tops with rich brown fur, completed the impression
of barbaric opulence which was suggested by his whole appearance.
He carried a broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the
upper part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black
vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, for
his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower part
of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, with a thick,
hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive of resolution pushed
to the length of obstinacy.

{}``You had my note?'' he asked with a deep harsh voice and a strongly
marked German accent. {}``I told you that I would call.'' He looked
from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to address.

{}``Pray take a seat,'' said Holmes. {}``This is my friend and
colleague, Dr.\ Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me
in my cases. Whom have I the honor to address?''

{}``You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman.
I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honor and
discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most extreme importance.
If not, I should much prefer to communicate with you alone.''

I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me back
into my chair. {}``It is both, or none,'' said he. {}``You may
say before this gentleman anything which you may say to me.''

The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. {}``Then I must begin,''
said he, {}``by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years;
at the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At present
it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it may have an
influence upon European history.''

{}``I promise,'' said Holmes.

{}``And I.''

{}``You will excuse this mask,'' continued our strange visitor.
{}``The august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown
to you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have just
called myself is not exactly my own.''

{}``I was aware of it,'' said Holmes drily.

{}``The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution
has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense scandal
and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of Europe. To
speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House of Ormstein,
hereditary kings of Bohemia.''

{}``I was also aware of that,'' murmured Holmes, settling himself
down in his armchair and closing his eyes.

Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, lounging
figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him as the most
incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Holmes slowly
reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his gigantic client.

{}``If your Majesty would condescend to state your case,'' he remarked,
{}``I should be better able to advise you.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-scan-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He tore the mask from his face.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in uncontrollable
agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he tore the mask from
his face and hurled it upon the ground. {}``You are right,'' he
cried; {}``I am the King. Why should I attempt to conceal it?''

{}``Why, indeed?''\ murmured Holmes. {}``Your Majesty had not
spoken before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich
Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and hereditary
King of Bohemia.''

{}``But you can understand,'' said our strange visitor, sitting
down once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead,
{}``you can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business
in my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not
confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I have
come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting you.''

{}``Then, pray consult,'' said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more.

{}``The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a lengthy
visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the wellknown adventuress,
Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you.''

{}``Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor,'' murmured Holmes without
opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of docketing
all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it was difficult
to name a subject or a person on which he could not at once furnish
information. In this case I found her biography sandwiched in between
that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a staff-commander who had written
a monograph upon the deep-sea fishes.

{}``Let me see!''\ said Holmes. {}``Hum! Born in New Jersey in
the year 1858. Contralto\mdsh{---}hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna
Imperial Opera of Warsaw\mdsh{---}yes! Retired from operatic stage\mdsh{---}ha!
Living in London\mdsh{---}quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand,
became entangled with this young person, wrote her some compromising
letters, and is now desirous of getting those letters back.''

{}``Precisely so. But how\mdsh{---}''

{}``Was there a secret marriage?''

{}``None.''

{}``No legal papers or certificates?''

{}``None.''

{}``Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should
produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is she
to prove their authenticity?''

{}``There is the writing.''

{}``Pooh, pooh! Forgery.''

{}``My private note-paper.''

{}``Stolen.''

{}``My own seal.''

{}``Imitated.''

{}``My photograph.''

{}``Bought.''

{}``We were both in the photograph.''

{}``Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed
an indiscretion.''

{}``I was mad\mdsh{---}insane.''

{}``You have compromised yourself seriously.''

{}``I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now.''

{}``It must be recovered.''

{}``We have tried and failed.''

{}``Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought.''

{}``She will not sell.''

{}``Stolen, then.''

{}``Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked
her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice
she has been waylaid. There has been no result.''

{}``No sign of it?''

{}``Absolutely none.''

Holmes laughed. {}``It is quite a pretty little problem,'' said
he.

{}``But a very serious one to me,'' returned the King reproachfully.

{}``Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the photograph?''

{}``To ruin me.''

{}``But how?''

{}``I am about to be married.''

{}``So I have heard.''

{}``To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the
King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her family.
She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a doubt as to
my conduct would bring the matter to an end.''

{}``And Irene Adler?''

{}``Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I
know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul
of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the
mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry another
woman, there are no lengths to which she would not go\mdsh{---}none.''

{}``You are sure that she has not sent it yet?''

{}``I am sure.''

{}``And why?''

{}``Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the
betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday.''

{}``Oh, then we have three days yet,'' said Holmes with a yawn.
{}``That is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance
to look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in
London for the present?''

{}``Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of
the Count Von Kramm.''

{}``Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress.''

{}``Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety.''

{}``Then, as to money?''

{}``You have carte blanche.''

{}``Absolutely?''

{}``I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom
to have that photograph.''

{}``And for present expenses?''

The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak and
laid it on the table.

{}``There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in notes,''
he said.

Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and handed
it to him.

{}``And Mademoiselle's address?'' he asked.

{}``Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St.\ John's Wood.''

Holmes took a note of it. {}``One other question,'' said he. {}``Was
the photograph a cabinet?''

{}``It was.''

{}``Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon
have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson,'' he added,
as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. {}``If
you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three o'clock
I should like to chat this little matter over with you.''


\section*{\raggedright II.}

\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{II.}

At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had not
yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the house
shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down beside the
fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, however long he
might be. I was already deeply interested in his inquiry, for, though
it was surrounded by none of the grim and strange features which were
associated with the two crimes which I have already recorded, still,
the nature of the case and the exalted station of his client gave
it a character of its own. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation
which my friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp
of a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a
pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the quick,
subtle methods by which he disentangled the most inextricable mysteries.
So accustomed was I to his invariable success that the very possibility
of his failing had ceased to enter into my head.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-scan-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A drunken-looking groom.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
It was close upon four before the door opened, and a drunken-looking
groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an inflamed face and disreputable
clothes, walked into the room. Accustomed as I was to my friend's
amazing powers in the use of disguises, I had to look three times
before I was certain that it was indeed he. With a nod he vanished
into the bedroom, whence he emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and
respectable, as of old. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched
out his legs in front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes.

{}``Well, really!''\ he cried, and then he choked and laughed again
until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the chair.

{}``What is it?''

{}``It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I employed
my morning, or what I ended by doing.''

{}``I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the habits,
and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler.''

{}``Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you,
however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this morning
in the character of a groom out of work. There is a wonderful sympathy
and freemasonry among horsy men. Be one of them, and you will know
all that there is to know. I soon found Briony Lodge. It is a bijou
villa, with a garden at the back.\ but built out in front right up
to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to the door. Large sitting-room
on the right side, well furnished, with long windows almost to the
floor, and those preposterous English window fasteners which a child
could open. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage
window could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked
round it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without
noting anything else of interest.

{}``I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that
there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden.
I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and received
in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two fills of shag
tobacco, and as much information as I could desire about Miss Adler,
to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighborhood in
whom I was not in the least interested, but whose biographies I was
compelled to listen to.''

{}``And what of Irene Adler?'' I asked.

{}``Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She
is the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the Serpentine-mews,
to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, drives out at five
every day, and returns at seven sharp for dinner. Seldom goes out
at other times, except when she sings. Has only one male visitor,
but a good deal of him. He is dark, handsome, and dashing, never calls
less than once a day, and often twice. He is a Mr.\ Godfrey Norton,
of the Inner Temple. See the advantages of a cabman as a confidant.
They had driven him home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew
all about him. When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began
to walk up and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over
my plan of campaign.

{}``This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the
matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the relation
between them, and what the object of his repeated visits? Was she
his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the former, she had probably
transferred the photograph to his keeping. If the latter, it was less
likely. On the issue of this question depended whether I should continue
my work at Briony Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers
in the Temple. It was a delicate point.\ and it widened the field
of my inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have
to let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the
situation.''

{}``I am following you closely,'' I answered.

{}``I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab
drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a remarkably
handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached\mdsh{---}evidently the
man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a great hurry, shouted
to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the maid who opened the door
with the air of a man who was thoroughly at home.

{}``He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch glimpses
of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and down, talking
excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see nothing. Presently
he emerged, looking even more flurried than before. As he stepped
up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from his pocket and looked at
it earnestly, `Drive like the devil,' he shouted, `first to Gross
\& Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Church of St.\ Monica
in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if you do it in twenty minutes!'

{}``Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not
do well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau,
the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under his
ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of the buckles.
It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall door and into
it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, but she was a lovely
woman, with a face that a man might die for.

{}```The Church of St.\ Monica, John,' she cried, `and half a sovereign
if you reach it in twenty minutes.'

{}``This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing
whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her
landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked twice
at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could object. `The
Church of St.\ Monica,' said I, `and half a sovereign if you reach
it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to twelve, and of
course it was clear enough what was in the wind.

{}``My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the
others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their steaming
horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid the man and
hurried into the church. There was not a soul there save the two whom
I had followed and a surprised clergyman, who seemed to be expostulating
with them. They were all three standing in a knot in front of the
altar. I lounged up the side aisle like any other idler who has dropped
into a church. Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced
round to me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards
me.

{}``Thank God,'' he cried. {}``You'll do. Come! Come!''

{}``What then?'' I asked.

{}``Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-scan-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I found myself mumbling responses.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was
I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear,
and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally assisting
in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Godfrey Norton,
bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and there was the gentleman
thanking me on the one side and the lady on the other, while the clergyman
beamed on me in front. It was the most preposterous position in which
I ever found myself in my life, and it was the thought of it that
started me laughing just now. It seems that there had been some informality
about their license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry
them without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance
saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in
search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean to
wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion.''

{}``This is a very unexpected turn of affairs,'' said I; {}``and
what then?''

{}``Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if
the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate very
prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church door, however,
they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and she to her own
house. `I shall drive out in the park at five as usual,' she said
as she left him. I heard no more. They drove away in different directions,
and I went off to make my own arrangements.''

{}``Which are?''

{}``Some cold beef and a glass of beer,'' he answered, ringing the
bell. {}``I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely
to be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want
your cooperation.''

{}``I shall be delighted.''

{}``You don't mind breaking the law?''

{}``Not in the least.''

{}``Nor running a chance of arrest?''

{}``Not in a good cause.''

{}``Oh, the cause is excellent!''

{}``Then I am your man.''

{}``I was sure that I might rely on you.''

{}``But what is it you wish?''

{}``When Mrs.\ Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear
to you. Now,'' he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that
our landlady had provided, {}``I must discuss it while I eat, for
I have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must
be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns
from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her.''

{}``And what then?''

{}``You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to
occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must not
interfere, come what may. You understand?''

{}``I am to be neutral?''

{}``To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small unpleasantness.
Do not join in it. It will end in my being conveyed into the house.
Four or five minutes afterwards the sitting-room window will open.
You are to station yourself close to that open window.''

{}``Yes.''

{}``You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you.''

{}``Yes.''

{}``And when I raise my hand\mdsh{---}so\mdsh{---}you will throw
into the room what I give you to throw, and will, at the same time,
raise the cry of fire. You quite follow me?''

{}``Entirely.''

{}``It is nothing very formidable,'' he said, taking a long cigar-shaped
roll from his pocket. {}``It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket,
fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. Your task
is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, it will be taken
up by quite a number of people. You may then walk to the end of the
street, and I will rejoin you in ten minutes. I hope that I have made
myself clear?''

{}``I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you,
and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry of
fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street.''

{}``Precisely.''

{}``Then you may entirely rely on me.''

{}``That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I
prepare for the new role I have to play.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-scan-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A simple-minded clergyman.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the
character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist clergyman.
His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white tie, his sympathetic
smile, and general look of peering and benevolent curiosity were such
as Mr.\ John Hare alone could have equalled. It was not merely that
Holmes changed his costume. His expression, his manner, his very soul
seemed to vary with every fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost
a fine actor, even as science lost an acute reasoner, when he became
a specialist in crime.

It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still
wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Serpentine
Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just being lighted
as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, waiting for the
coming of its occupant. The house was just such as I had pictured
it from Sherlock Holmes's succinct description, but the locality appeared
to be less private than I expected. On the contrary, for a small street
in a quiet neighborhood, it was remarkably animated. There was a group
of shabbily dressed men smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder
with his wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl,
and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with
cigars in their mouths.

{}``You see,'' remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front
of the house, {}``this marriage rather simplifies matters. The photograph
becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that she would
be as averse to its being seen by Mr.\ Godfrey Norton, as our client
is to its coming to the eyes of his princess. Now the question is,
Where are we to find the photograph?''

{}``Where, indeed?''

{}``It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is
cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's dress.
She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and searched.
Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We may take it, then,
that she does not carry it about with her.''

{}``Where, then?''

{}``Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But
I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, and
they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it over to
anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but she could not
tell what indirect or political influence might be brought to bear
upon a business man. Besides, remember that she had resolved to use
it within a few days. It must be where she can lay her hands upon
it. It must be in her own house.''

{}``But it has twice been burgled.''

{}``Pshaw! They did not know how to look.''

{}``But how will you look?''

{}``I will not look.''

{}``What then?''

{}``I will get her to show me.''

{}``But she will refuse.''

{}``She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It
is her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter.''

As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round
the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which rattled
up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of the loafing
men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the hope of earning
a copper, but was elbowed away by another loafer, who had rushed up
with the same intention. A fierce quarrel broke out, which was increased
by the two guardsmen, who took sides with one of the loungers, and
by the scissors-grinder, who was equally hot upon the other side.
%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-scan-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He gave a cry and dropped.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
A blow was struck, and in an instant the lady, who had stepped from
her carriage, was the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling
men, who struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks.
Holmes dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached
her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood running
freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to their heels
in one direction and the loungers in the other, while a number of
better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle without taking
part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to attend to the injured
man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, had hurried up the steps;
but she stood at the top with her superb figure outlined against the
lights of the hall, looking back into the street.

{}``Is the poor gentleman much hurt?''\ she asked.

{}``He is dead,'' cried several voices.

{}``No, no, there's life in him!''\ shouted another. {}``But he'll
be gone before you can get him to hospital.''

{}``He's a brave fellow,'' said a woman. {}``They would have had
the lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a
gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now.''

{}``He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?''

{}``Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable
sofa. This way, please!''

Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out in
the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings from my
post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the blinds had not
been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay upon the couch. I
do not know whether he was seized with compunction at that moment
for the part he was playing, but I know that I never felt more heartily
ashamed of myself in my life than when I saw the beautiful creature
against whom I was conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which
she waited upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest
treachery to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted
to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under my
ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are but
preventing her from injuring another.

Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man
who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the window.
At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the signal I tossed
my rocket into the room with a cry of {}``Fire!'' The word was no
sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators, well dressed
and ill\mdsh{---}gentlemen, ostlers, and servant-maids\mdsh{---}joined
in a general shriek of {}``Fire!'' Thick clouds of smoke curled
through the room and out at the open window. I caught a glimpse of
rushing figures, and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within
assuring them that it was a false alarm. Slipping through the shouting
crowd I made my way to the corner of the street, and in ten minutes
was rejoiced to find my friend's arm in mine, and to get away from
the scene of uproar. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few
minutes until we had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead
towards the Edgeware Road.

{}``You did it very nicely, Doctor,'' he remarked. {}``Nothing
could have been better. It is all right.''

{}``You have the photograph?''

{}``I know where it is.''

{}``And how did you find out?''

{}``She showed me, as I told you she would.''

{}``I am still in the dark.''

{}``I do not wish to make a mystery,'' said he, laughing. {}``The
matter was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in
the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening.''

{}``I guessed as much.''

{}``Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint
in the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand
to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick.''

{}``That also I could fathom.''

{}``Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else
could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room which
I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was determined
to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for air, they were
compelled to open the window, and you had your chance.''

{}``How did that help you?''

{}``It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on
fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she values
most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have more than
once taken advantage of it. In the case of the Darlington substitution
scandal it was of use to me, and also in the Arnsworth Castle business.
A married woman grabs at her baby; an unmarried one reaches for her
jewel-box. Now it was clear to me that our lady of to-day had nothing
in the house more precious to her than what we are in quest of. She
would rush to secure it. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The
smoke and shouting were enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded
beautifully. The photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel
just above the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I
caught a glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that
it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed
from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making
my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to attempt
to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had come in, and
as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to wait. A little over-precipitance
may ruin all.''

{}``And now?'' I asked.

{}``Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King
to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be shown
into the sitting-room to wait for the lady; but it is probable that
when she comes she may find neither us nor the photograph. It might
be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain it with his own hands.''

{}``And when will you call?''

{}``At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall
have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage
may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to
the King without delay.''

We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was searching
his pockets for the key when someone passing said:

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-scan-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Good-night, Mister Sherlock
Holmes.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes.''

There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the greeting
appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had hurried by.

{}``I've heard that voice before,'' said Holmes, staring down the
dimly lit street. {}``Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have
been.''


\section*{\raggedright III.}

\addcontentsline{toc}{section}{III.}

I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our toast
and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed into the
room.

{}``You have really got it!'' he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes
by either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face.

{}``Not yet.''

{}``But you have hopes?''

{}``I have hopes.''

{}``Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone.''

{}``We must have a cab.''

{}``No, my brougham is waiting.''

{}``Then that will simplify matters.'' We descended and started
off once more for Briony Lodge.

{}``Irene Adler is married,'' remarked Holmes.

{}``Married! When?''

{}``Yesterday.''

{}``But to whom?''

{}``To an English lawyer named Norton.''

{}``But she could not love him.''

{}``I am in hopes that she does.''

{}``And why in hopes?''

{}``Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future annoyance.
If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your Majesty. If
she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason why she should
interfere with your Majesty's plan.''

{}``It is true. And yet\mdsh{---} Well! I wish she had been of my
own station! What a queen she would have made!'' He relapsed into
a moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in Serpentine
Avenue.

The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood upon
the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped from the
brougham.

{}``Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes, I believe?'' said she.

{}``I am Mr.\ Holmes,'' answered my companion, looking at her with
a questioning and rather startled gaze.

{}``Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She
left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing
Cross for the Continent.''

{}``What!'' Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and
surprise. {}``Do you mean that she has left England?''

{}``Never to return.''

{}``And the papers?'' asked the King hoarsely. {}``All is lost.''

{}``We shall see.'' He pushed past the servant and rushed into the
drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was scattered
about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and open drawers,
as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before her flight. Holmes
rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small sliding shutter, and, plunging
in his hand, pulled out a photograph and a letter. The photograph
was of Irene Adler herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed
to {}``Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for.'' My friend
tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at midnight
of the preceding night and ran in this way:

\begin{quotation}
\noindent \textit{\noun{My}} \noun{}\textit{\noun{Dear}} \noun{}\textit{\noun{Mr}}\noun{.\ }\textit{\noun{Sherlock}}
\noun{}\textit{\noun{Holmes}}, \mbox{----} You really did it
very well. You took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire,
I had not a suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself,
I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had
been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly be
you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, you made
me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became suspicious,
I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind old clergyman.
But, you know, I have been trained as an actress myself. Male costume
is nothing new to me. I often take advantage of the freedom which
it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to watch you, ran up stairs,
got into my walking-clothes, as I call them, and came down just as
you departed.

Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was really
an object of interest to the celebrated Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes. Then
I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and started for the
Temple to see my husband. We both thought the best resource was flight,
when pursued by so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the
nest empty when you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client
may rest in peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The
King may do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly
wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a weapon
which will always secure me from any steps which he might take in
the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to possess; and
I remain, dear Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes,

\noindent \begin{center}Very truly yours,\end{center}

\textit{\noun{\hspace{\stretch{1}}Irene}} \noun{}\textit{\noun{Norton}}\noun{,
nee} \textit{\noun{Adler}}\noun{.}
\end{quotation}
{}``What a woman\mdsh{---}oh, what a woman!'' cried the King of
Bohemia, when we had all three read this epistle. {}``Did I not tell
you how quick and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable
queen? Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?''

{}``From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a
very different level to your Majesty,'' said Holmes coldly. {}``I
am sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business
to a more successful conclusion.''

{}``On the contrary, my dear sir,'' cried the King; {}``nothing
could be more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The photograph
is now as safe as if it were in the fire.''

{}``I am glad to hear your Majesty say so.''

{}``I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can
reward you. This ring\mbox{----}'' He slipped an emerald snake ring
from his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand.

{}``Your Majesty has something which I should value even more highly,''
said Holmes.

{}``You have but to name it.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-scan-10.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``This photograph!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``This photograph!''

The King stared at him in amazement.

{}``Irene's photograph!'' he cried. {}``Certainly, if you wish
it.''

{}``I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the
matter. I have the honor to wish you a very good-morning.'' He bowed,
and, turning away without observing the hand which the King had stretched
out to him, he set off in my company for his chambers.

And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom
of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes were beaten
by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the cleverness of women,
but I have not heard him do it of late. And when he speaks of Irene
Adler, or when he refers to her photograph, it is always under the
honorable title of \emph{the} woman.


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE}

I had called upon my friend, Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes, one day in the
autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a very
stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. With an
apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Holmes pulled
me abruptly into the room and closed the door behind me.

{}``You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear Watson,''
he said cordially.

{}``I was afraid that you were engaged.''

{}``So I am. Very much so.''

{}``Then I can wait in the next room.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Mr.\ Jabez Wilson.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Not at all. This gentleman, Mr.\ Wilson, has been my partner
and helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no doubt
that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also.''

The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of greeting,
with a quick little questioning glance from his small fat-encircled
eyes.

{}``Try the settee,'' said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and
putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in judicial
moods. {}``I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love of all
that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum routine of
everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by the enthusiasm
which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you will excuse my saying
so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own little adventures.''

{}``Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me,''
I observed.

{}``You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before
we went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary Sutherland,
that for strange effects and extraordinary combinations we must go
to life itself, which is always far more daring than any effort of
the imagination.''

{}``A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting.''

{}``You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my
view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you until
your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to be right.
Now, Mr.\ Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call upon me
this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to be one of
the most singular which I have listened to for some time. You have
heard me remark that the strangest and most unique things are very
often connected not with the larger but with the smaller crimes, and
occasionally, indeed, where there is room for doubt whether any positive
crime has been committed. As far as I have heard it is impossible
for me to say whether the present case is an instance of crime or
not, but the course of events is certainly among the most singular
that I have ever listened to. Perhaps, Mr.\ Wilson, you would have
the great kindness to recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely
because my friend Dr.\ Watson has not heard the opening part but
also because the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to
have every possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have
heard some slight indication of the course of events, I am able to
guide myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to
my memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the facts
are, to the best of my belief, unique.''

The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some
little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the inside
pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the advertisement column,
with his head thrust forward and the paper flattened out upon his
knee, I took a good look at the man and endeavored, after the fashion
of my companion, to read the indications which might be presented
by his dress or appearance.

I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor bore
every mark of being an average commonplace British tradesman, obese,
pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy gray shepherd's check trousers,
a not over-clean black frock-coat, unbuttoned in the front, and a
drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy Albert chain, and a square pierced
bit of metal dangling down as an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a
faded brown overcoat with a wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair
beside him. Altogether, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable
about the man save his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme
chagrin and discontent upon his features.

Sherlock Holmes's quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook his
head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. {}``Beyond
the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual labour, that
he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has been in China,
and that he has done a considerable amount of writing lately, I can
deduce nothing else.''

Mr.\ Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger upon
the paper, but his eyes upon my companion.

{}``How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr.
Holmes?'' he asked. {}``How did you know, for example, that I did
manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's carpenter.''

{}``Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger
than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more
developed.''

{}``Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?''

{}``I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that,
especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you
use an arc-and-compass breastpin.''

{}``Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?''

{}``What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for
five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the elbow
where you rest it upon the desk?''

{}``Well, but China?''

{}``The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right
wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small study
of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature of the
subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a delicate pink
is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I see a Chinese coin
hanging from your watch-chain, the matter becomes even more simple.''

Mr.\ Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. {}``Well, I never!''\ said
he. {}``I thought at first that you had done something clever, but
I see that there was nothing in it, after all.''

{}``I begin to think, Watson,'' said Holmes, {}``that I make a
mistake in explaining. `Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and
my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if
I am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr.\ Wilson?''

{}``Yes, I have got it now,'' he answered with his thick red finger
planted halfway down the column. {}``Here it is. This is what began
it all. You just read it for yourself, sir.''

I took the paper from him and read as follows.

\begin{quotation}
\noindent \textit{\noun{To}} \noun{}\textit{\noun{the}} \noun{}\textit{\noun{Red}}\noun{-}\textit{\noun{Headed}}
\noun{}\textit{\noun{League}}: On account of the bequest of the
late Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., there is now
another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a salary
of \pounds{}4 a week for purely nominal services. All red-headed
men who are sound in body and mind and above the age of twenty-one
years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at eleven o'clock,
to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 Pope's Court, Fleet
Street.
\end{quotation}
{}

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``What on earth does this
mean?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``What on earth does this mean?'' I ejaculated after I had twice
read over the extraordinary announcement.

Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when in
high spirits. {}``It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?''\ said
he. {}``And now, Mr.\ Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us
all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this advertisement
had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Doctor, of the
paper and the date.''

{}``It is \emph{The Morning Chronicle} of April 27, 1890. Just two
months ago.''

{}``Very good. Now, Mr.\ Wilson?''

{}``Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes,''
said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; {}``I have a small pawnbroker's
business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a very large affair,
and of late years it has not done more than just give me a living.
I used to be able to keep two assistants, but now I only keep one;
and I would have a job to pay him but that he is willing to come for
half wages so as to learn the business.''

{}``What is the name of this obliging youth?'' asked Sherlock Holmes.

{}``His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, either.
It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter assistant, Mr.\ Holmes;
and I know very well that he could better himself and earn twice what
I am able to give him. But, after all, if he is satisfied, why should
I put ideas in his head?''

{}``Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employee who
comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience among
employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is not as
remarkable as your advertisement.''

{}``Oh, he has his faults, too,'' said Mr.\ Wilson. {}``Never
was such a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when
he ought to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar
like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his main
fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice in him.''

{}``He is still with you, I presume?''

{}``Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple
cooking and keeps the place clean\mdsh{---}that's all I have in the
house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very quietly,
sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads and pay our
debts, if we do nothing more.

{}``The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. Spaulding,
he came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this
very paper in his hand, and he says:

{}```I wish to the Lord, Mr.\ Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.'

{}```Why that?' I asks.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The League has a vacancy.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Why,' says he, `here's another vacancy on the League of the
Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who gets
it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than there are
men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what to do with the
money. If my hair would only change color, here's a nice little crib
all ready for me to step into.'

{}```Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see. Mr.\ Holmes, I am
a very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of
my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting my
foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what was
going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news.

{}```Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he
asked with his eyes open.

{}```Never.'

{}```Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligibile yourself for one
of the vacancies.'

{}```And what are they worth?' I asked.

{}```Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight,
and it need not interfere very much with one's other occupations.'

`Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, for
the business has not been over-good for some years, and an extra couple
of hundred would have been very handy.

{}```Tell me all about it,' said I.

{}```Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, `you can see for
yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address where
you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, the League
was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah Hopkins, who was very
peculiar in his ways. He was himself red-headed, and he had a great
sympathy for all red-headed men; so when he died it was found that
he had left his enormous fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions
to apply the interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose
hair is of that color. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very
little to do.'

{}```But,' said I, `there would be millions of red-headed men who
would apply.'

{}```Not so many as you might think,' he answered. `You see it is
really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had
started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the old
town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your applying
if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but real bright,
blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. Wilson, you would
just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be worth your while to put
yourself out of the way for the sake of a few hundred pounds.'

{}``Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves,
that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed to
me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I stood as
good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent Spaulding seemed
to know so much about it that I thought he might prove useful, so
I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the day and to come
right away with me. He was very willing to have a holiday, so we shut
the business up and started off for the address that was given us
in the advertisement.

{}``I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr.\ Holmes.
From north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red
in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement.
Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court looked
like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought there were
so many in the whole country as were brought together by that single
advertisement. Every shade of color they were\mdsh{---}straw, lemon,
orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; but, as Spaulding said,
there were not many who had the real vivid flame-colored tint. When
I saw how many were waiting, I would have given it up in despair;
but Spaulding would not hear of it. How he did it I could not imagine,
but he pushed and pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd,
and right up to the steps which led to the office. There was a double
stream upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back
dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found ourselves
in the office.''

{}``Your experience has been a most entertaining one,'' remarked
Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge pinch
of snuff. {}``Pray continue your very interesting statement.''

{}``There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs
and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that was
even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate as he
came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in them which
would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem to be such a
very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn came the little
man was much more favorable to me than to any of the others, and he
closed the door as we entered, so that he might have a private word
with us.

{}```This is Mr.\ Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, `and he is willing
to fill a vacancy in the League.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He congratulated me warmly.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. `He
has every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so
fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and gazed
at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he plunged forward,
wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my success.

{}```It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. `You will, however,
I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' With that
he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I yelled with
the pain. `There is water in your eyes,' said he as he released me.
`I perceive that all is as it should be. But we have to be careful,
for we have twice been deceived by wigs and once by paint. I could
tell you tales of cobbler's wax which would disgust you with human
nature.' He stepped over to the window and shouted through it at the
top of his voice that the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment
came up from below, and the folk all trooped away in different directions
until there was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of
the manager.

{}```My name,' said he, `is Mr.\ Duncan Ross, and I am myself one
of the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are
you a married man, Mr.\ Wilson? Have you a family?'

{}``I answered that I had not.

{}``His face fell immediately.

{}```Dear me!' he said gravely, `that is very serious indeed! I am
sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the propagation
and spread of the red-heads as well as for their maintenance. It is
exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a bachelor.'

{}``My face lengthened at this, Mr.\ Holmes, for I thought that
I was not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over
for a few minutes he said that it would be all right.

{}```In the case of another,' said he, `the objection might be fatal,
but we must stretch a point in favor of a man with such a head of
hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your new duties?'

{}```Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,'
said I.

{}```Oh, never mind about that, Mr.\ Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding.
`I should be able to look after that for you.'

{}```What would be the hours?' I asked.

{}```Ten to two.'

{}``Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr.
Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just before
pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in the mornings.
Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, and that he would
see to anything that turned up.

{}```That would suit me very well,' said I. `And the pay?'

{}```Is \pounds{}4 a week.'

{}```And the work?'

{}```Is purely nominal.'

{}```What do you call purely nominal?'

{}``'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the building,
the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole position forever.
The will is very clear upon that point. You don't comply with the
conditions if you budge from the office during that time.'

{}```It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,'
said I.

{}```No excuse will avail,' said Mr.\ Duncan Ross; `neither sickness
nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose your
billet.'

{}```And the work?'

{}``'Is to copy out the Encyclop\ae dia Britannica. There is the
first volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens,
and blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you
be ready to-morrow?'

{}```Certainly,' I answered.

{}```Then, good-bye, Mr.\ Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate
you once more on the important position which you have been fortunate
enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with
my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased at
my own good fortune.

{}``Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was
in low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whole
affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its object might
be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past belief that anyone
could make such a will, or that they would pay such a sum for doing
anything so simple as copying out the Encyclop\ae dia Britannica.
Vincent Spaulding did what he could to cheer me up, but by bedtime
I had reasoned myself out of the whole thing. However, in the morning
I determined to have a look at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle
of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper,
I started off for Pope's Court.

{}``Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as
possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr.\ Duncan Ross
was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off upon
the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from time
to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he bade
me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had written, and
locked the door of the office after me.

{}``This went on day after day, Mr.\ Holmes, and on Saturday the
manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my week's
work. It was the same next week, and the same the week after. Every
morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I left at two. By
degrees Mr.\ Duncan Ross took to coming in only once of a morning,
and then, after a time, he did not come in at all. Still, of course,
I never dared to leave the room for an instant, for I was not sure
when he might come, and the billet was such a good one, and suited
me so well, that I would not risk the loss of it.

{}``Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about Abbots
and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and hoped with
diligence that I might get on to the B's before very long. It cost
me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly filled a shelf with
my writings. And then suddenly the whole business came to an end.''

{}``To an end?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-redh-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The door was shut and locked.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as
usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little
square of card-board hammered on to the middle of the panel with a
tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself.''

He held up a piece of white card-board about the size of a sheet of
note-paper. It read in this fashion:

\begin{center} \sc

THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE \\*

\small Is \\*

Dissolved. \\*

October 9, 1890.

\end{center}

Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the rueful
face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so completely
overtopped every other consideration that we both burst out into a
roar of laughter.

{}``I cannot see that there is anything very funny,'' cried our
client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. {}``If you
can do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere.''

{}``No, no,'' cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from
which he had half risen. {}``I really wouldn't miss your case for
the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you will
excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Pray
what steps did you take when you found the card upon the door?''

{}``I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called
at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything about
it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant living on
the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me what had become
of the Red-headed League. He said that he had never heard of any such
body. Then I asked him who Mr.\ Duncan Ross was. He answered that
the name was new to him.

{}```Well,' said I, `the gentleman at No.\ 4.'

{}```What, the red-headed man?'

{}```Yes.'

{}```Oh,' said he, `his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor
and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new premises
were ready. He moved out yesterday.'

{}```Where could I find him?'

{}```Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17
King Edward Street, near St.\ Paul's.'

{}``I started off, Mr.\ Holmes, but when I got to that address it
was a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever
heard of either Mr.\ William Morris or Mr.\ Duncan Ross.''

{}``And what did you do then?''\ asked Holmes.

{}``I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my
assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say
that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite good
enough, Mr.\ Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place without
a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough to give advice
to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right away to you.''

{}``And you did very wisely,'' said Holmes. {}``Your case is an
exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it.
From what you have told me I think that it is possible that graver
issues hang from it than might at first sight appear.''

{}``Grave enough!''\ said Mr.\ Jabez Wilson. {}``Why, I have
lost four pound a week.''

{}``As far as you are personally concerned,'' remarked Holmes, {}``I
do not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary
league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some
\pounds{}30, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have
gained on every subject which comes under the letter A.\ You have
lost nothing by them.''

{}``No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are,
and what their object was in playing this prank\mdsh{---}if it was
a prank\mdsh{---}upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them,
for it cost them two and thirty pounds.''

{}``We shall endeavor to clear up these points for you. And, first,
one or two questions, Mr.\ Wilson. This assistant of yours who first
called your attention to the advertisement\mdsh{---}how long had
he been with you?''

{}``About a month then.''

{}``How did he come?''

{}``In answer to an advertisement.''

{}``Was he the only applicant?''

{}``No, I had a dozen.''

{}``Why did you pick him?''

{}``Because he was handy and would come cheap.''

{}``At half-wages, in fact.''

{}``Yes.''

{}``What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?''

{}``Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face,
though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon his
forehead.''

Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. {}``I thought
as much,'' said he. {}``Have you ever observed that his ears are
pierced for earrings?''

{}``Yes, sir. He told me that a gypsy had done it for him when he
was a lad.''

{}``Hum!'' said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. {}``He is
still with you?''

{}``Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him.''

{}``And has your business been attended to in your absence?''

{}``Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of
a morning.''

{}``That will do, Mr.\ Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an opinion
upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Saturday,
and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion.''

{}``Well, Watson,'' said Holmes when our visitor had left us, {}``what
do you make of it all?''

{}``I make nothing of it,'' I answered frankly. {}``It is a most
mysterious business.''

{}``As a rule,'' said Holmes, {}``the more bizarre a thing is the
less mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless
crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is the
most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this matter.''

{}``What are you going to do, then?'' I asked.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He curled himself up in his chair.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``To smoke,'' he answered. {}``It is quite a three pipe problem,
and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes.'' He curled
himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his hawk-like
nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his black clay pipe
thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. I had come to the
conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and indeed was nodding myself,
when he suddenly sprang out of his chair with the gesture of a man
who has made up his mind and put his pipe down upon the mantelpiece.

{}``Sarasate plays at the St.\ James's Hall this afternoon,'' he
remarked. {}``What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare
you for a few hours?''

{}``I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very absorbing.''

{}``Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City first,
and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that there is a good
deal of German music on the programme, which is rather more to my
taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect.
Come along!''

We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short
walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular story
which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, little, shabby-genteel
place, where four lines of dingy two-storied brick houses looked out
into a small railed-in enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and
a few clumps of faded laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden
and uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with
{}``\textit{\noun{Jabez}} \noun{}\textit{\noun{Wilson}}''
in white letters, upon a corner house, announced the place where our
red-headed client carried on his business. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The door was instantly opened.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side and
looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between puckered
lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down again to
the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally he returned
to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously upon the pavement
with his stick two or three times, he went up to the door and knocked.
It was instantly opened by a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow,
who asked him to step in.

{}``Thank you,'' said Holmes, {}``I only wished to ask you how
you would go from here to the Strand.''

{}``Third right, fourth left,'' answered the assistant promptly,
closing the door.

{}``Smart fellow, that,'' observed Holmes as we walked away. {}``He
is, in my judgment.\ the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring
I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known something
of him before.''

{}``Evidently,'' said I, {}``Mr.\ Wilson's assistant counts for
a good deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that
you inquired your way merely in order that you might see him.''

{}``Not him.''

{}``What then?''

{}``The knees of his trousers.''

{}``And what did you see?''

{}``What I expected to see.''

{}``Why did you beat the pavement?''

{}``My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk.
We are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg
Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it.''

The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the corner
from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a contrast
to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was one of the
main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City to the north
and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense stream of commerce
flowing in a double tide inward and outward, while the footpaths were
black with the hurrying swarm of pedestrians. It was difficult to
realize as we looked at the line of fine shops and stately business
premises that they really abutted on the other side upon the faded
and stagnant square which we had just quitted.

{}``Let me see,'' said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing
along the line, {}``I should like just to remember the order of the
houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of London.
There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little newspaper shop, the
Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, the Vegetarian Restaurant,
and McFarlane's carriage-building depot. That carries us right on
to the other block. And now, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's
time we had some play. A sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off
to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and
there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-redh-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small All afternoon he sat in the stalls.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very
capable perfomer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All the afternoon
he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect happiness, gently
waving his long, thin fingers in time to the music, while his gently
smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes were as unlike those of
Holmes, the sleuth-hound, Holmes the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed
criminal agent, as it was possible to conceive. In his singular character
the dual nature alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness
and astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction
against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally predominated
in him. The swing of his nature took him from extreme languor to devouring
energy; and, as I knew well, he was never so truly formidable as when,
for days on end, he had been lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations
and his black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase
would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning power
would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were unacquainted
with his methods would look askance at him as on a man whose knowledge
was not that of other mortals. When I saw him that afternoon so enwrapped
in the music at St.\ James's Hall I felt that an evil time might
be coming upon those whom he had set himself to hunt down.

{}``You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor,'' he remarked as we emerged.

{}``Yes, it would be as well.''

{}``And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This
business at Coburg Square is serious.''

{}``Why serious?''

{}``A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason
to believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being Saturday
rather complicates matters. I shall want your help to-night.''

{}``At what time?''

{}``Ten will be early enough.''

{}``I shall be at Baker Street at ten.''

{}``Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger,
so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket.'' He waved his hand,
turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the crowd.

I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbors, but I was always
oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings with Sherlock
Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had seen what he had
seen, and yet from his words it was evident that he saw clearly not
only what had happened but what was about to happen, while to me the
whole business was still confused and grotesque. As I drove home to
my house in Kensington I thought over it all, from the extraordinary
story of the red-headed copier of the Encyclop\ae dia down to the
visit to Saxe-Coburg Square, and the ominous words with which he had
parted from me. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should
I go armed? Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the
hint from Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was
a formidable man\mdsh{---}a man who might play a deep game. I tried
to puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside
until night should bring an explanation.

It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my way
across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Street. Two
hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered the passage I
heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his room I found
Holmes in animated conversation with two men, one of whom I recognized
as Peter Jones, the official police agent, while the other was a long,
thin, sad-faced man, with a very shiny hat and oppressively respectable
frock-coat.

{}``Ha! Our party is complete,'' said Holmes, buttoning up his peajacket
and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. {}``Watson, I think
you know Mr.\ Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me introduce you to Mr.\ Merryweather,
who is to be our companion in to-night's adventure.''

{}``We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see,'' said Jones
in his consequential way. {}``Our friend here is a wonderful man
for starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do
the running down.''

{}``I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase,''
observed Mr.\ Merryweather gloomily.

{}``You may place considerable confidence in Mr.\ Holmes, sir,''
said the police agent loftily. {}``He has his own little methods,
which are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical
and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It is
not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of the
Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly correct
than the official force.''

{}``Oh, if you say so, Mr.\ Jones, it is all right,'' said the
stranger with deference. {}``Still, I confess that I miss my rubber.
It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I have
not had my rubber.''

{}``I think you will find,'' said Sherlock Holmes, {}``that you
will play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet,
and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr.\ Merryweather,
the stake will be some \pounds{}30,000; and for you, Jones, it will
be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands.''

{}``John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a young
man, Mr.\ Merryweather, but he is at the head of his profession,
and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on any criminal in
London. He's a remarkable man, is young John Clay. His grandfather
was a royal duke, and he himself has been to Eton and Oxford. His
brain is as cunning as his fingers, and though we meet signs of him
at every turn, we never know where to find the man himself. He'll
crack a crib in Scotland one week, and be raising money to build an
orphanage in Cornwall the next. I've been on his track for years and
have never set eyes on him yet.''

{}``I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night.
I've had one or two little turns also with Mr.\ John Clay, and I
agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is past
ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two will take
the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the second.''

Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive and
lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in the afternoon.
We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit streets until we
emerged into Farrington Street.

{}``We are close there now,'' my friend remarked. {}``This fellow
Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the
matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is not
a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. He has
one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as tenacious
as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we are, and they
are waiting for us.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-redh-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Mr.\ Merryweather stopped to
light a lantern.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had found
ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, following
the guidance of Mr.\ Merryweather, we passed down a narrow passage
and through a side door, which he opened for us. Within there was
a small corridor, which ended in a very massive iron gate. This also
was opened, and led down a flight of winding stone steps, which terminated
at another formidable gate. Mr.\ Merryweather stopped to light a
lantern, and then conducted us down a dark, earth-smelling passage,
and so, after opening a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which
was piled all round with crates and massive boxes.

{}``You are not very vulnerable from above,'' Holmes remarked as
he held up the lantern and gazed about him.

{}``Nor from below,'' said Mr.\ Merryweather, striking his stick
upon the flags which lined the floor. {}``Why, dear me, it sounds
quite hollow!'' he remarked, looking up in surprise.

{}``I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!''\ said Holmes
severely. {}``You have already imperilled the whole success of our
expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit down
upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?''

The solemn Mr.\ Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a
very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his
knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens,
began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few seconds
sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again and put his
glass in his pocket.

{}``We have at least an hour before us,'' he remarked, {}``for
they can hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely
in bed. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their
work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at present,
Doctor\mdsh{---}as no doubt you have divined\mdsh{---}in the cellar
of the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr.\ Merryweather
is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to you that there
are reasons why the more daring criminals of London should take a
considerable interest in this cellar at present.''

{}``It is our French gold,'' whispered the director. {}``We have
had several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it.''

{}``Your French gold?''

{}``Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources
and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France.
It has become known that we have never had occasion to unpack the
money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The crate upon which
I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between layers of lead foil.
Our reserve of bullion is much larger at present than is usually kept
in a single branch office, and the directors have had misgivings upon
the subject.''

{}``Which were very well justified,'' observed Holmes. {}``And
now it is time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within
an hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr.\ Merryweather,
we must put the screen over that dark lantern.''

{}``And sit in the dark?''

{}``I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and
I thought that, as we were a \emph{partie carree}, you might have
your rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have
gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, first
of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, and though
we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us some harm unless
we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, and do you conceal
yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a light upon them, close
in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no compunction about shooting
them down.''

I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case behind
which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of his lantern
and left us in pitch darkness\mdsh{---}such an absolute darkness
as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot metal remained
to assure us that the light was still there, ready to flash out at
a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked up to a pitch of expectancy,
there was something depressing and subduing in the sudden gloom, and
in the cold dank air of the vault.

{}``They have but one retreat,'' whispered Holmes. {}``That is
back through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have
done what I asked you, Jones?''

{}``I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door.''

{}``Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent
and wait.''

What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but
an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must have
almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs were weary
and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my nerves were
worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my hearing was so acute
that I could not only hear the gentle breathing of my companions,
but I could distinguish the deeper, heavier in-breath of the bulky
Jones from the thin, sighing note of the bank director. From my position
I could look over the case in the direction of the floor. Suddenly
my eyes caught the glint of a light.

At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then it
lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, without any
warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand appeared; a white,
almost womanly hand, which felt about in the centre of the little
area of light. For a minute or more the hand, with its writhing fingers,
protruded out of the floor. Then it was withdrawn as suddenly as it
appeared, and all was dark again save the single lurid spark which
marked a chink between the stones.

Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, tearing
sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon its side and
left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed the light of a
lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, boyish face, which
looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand on either side of the
aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and waist-high, until one knee
rested upon the edge. In another instant he stood at the side of the
hole and was hauling after him a companion, lithe and small like himself,
with a pale face and a shock of very red hair.

{}``It's all clear,'' he whispered. {}``Have you the chisel and
the bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!''

Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the collar.
The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of rending cloth
as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed upon the barrel
of a revolver, but Holmes's hunting crop came down on the man's wrist,
and the pistol clinked upon the stone floor.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-redh-10.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``It's no use, John Clay.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``It's no use, John Clay,'' said Holmes blandly. {}``You have
no chance at all.''

{}``So I see,'' the other answered with the utmost coolness. {}``I
fancy that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his coat-tails.''

{}``There are three men waiting for him at the door,'' said Holmes.

{}``Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely.
I must compliment you.''

{}``And I you,'' Holmes answered. {}``Your red-headed idea was
very new and effective.''

{}``You'll see your pal again presently,'' said Jones. {}``He's
quicker at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix
the derbies.''

{}``I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands,'' remarked
our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. {}``You
may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have the goodness,
also, when you address me always to say `sir' and `please.'''

{}``All right,'' said Jones with a stare and a snigger. {}``Well,
would you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry
your Highness to the police-station?''

{}``That is better,'' said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping
bow to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the
detective.

{}``Really, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said Mr.\ Merryweather as we followed
them from the cellar, {}``I do not know how the bank can thank you
or repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated
in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts at
bank robbery that have ever come within my experience.''

{}``I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with
Mr.\ John Clay,'' said Holmes. {}``I have been at some small expense
over this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond
that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in many
ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of the Red-headed
League.''

{}``You see, Watson,'' he explained in the early hours of the morning
as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, {}``it
was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible object
of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of the League,
and the copying of the Encyclop\ae dia, must be to get this not over-bright
pawnbroker out of the way for a number of hours every day. It was
a curious way of managing it, but, really, it would be difficult to
suggest a better. The method was no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious
mind by the color of his accomplice's hair. The \pounds{}4 a week
was a lure which must draw him, and what was it to them, who were
playing for thousands? They put in the advertisement, one rogue has
the temporary office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for
it, and together they manage to secure his absence every morning in
the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come
for half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive
for securing the situation.''

{}``But how could you guess what the motive was?''

{}``Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a
mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The
man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his house
which could account for such elaborate preparations, and such an expenditure
as they were at. It must, then, be something out of the house. What
could it be? I thought of the assistant's fondness for photography,
and his trick of vanishing into the cellar. The cellar! There was
the end of this tangled clew. Then I made inquiries as to this mysterious
assistant and found that I had to deal with one of the coolest and
most daring criminals in London. He was doing something in the cellar\mdsh{---}something
which took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once
more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel to
some other building.

{}``So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I
surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was ascertaining
whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. It was not in
front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the assistant answered
it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had never set eyes upon each
other before. I hardly looked at his face. His knees were what I wished
to see. You must yourself have remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained
they were. They spoke of those hours of burrowing. The only remaining
point was what they were burrowing for. I walked round the corner,
saw the City and Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and
felt that I had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert
I called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank directors,
with the result that you have seen.''

{}``And how could you tell that they would make their attempt to-night?''
I asked.

{}``Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that
they cared no longer about Mr.\ Jabez Wilson's presence\mdsh{---}in
other words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential
that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the bullion
might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than any other day,
as it would give them two days for their escape. For all these reasons
I expected them to come to-night.''

{}``You reasoned it out beautifully,'' I exclaimed in unfeigned
admiration {}``It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings true.''

{}``It saved me from ennui,'' he answered, yawning. {}``Alas! I
already feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort
to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little problems
help me to do so.''

{}``And you are a benefactor of the race,'' said I.

He shrugged his shoulders. {}``Well, perhaps, after all, it is of
some little use,'' he remarked. {}```\emph{L'homme c'est rien\mdsh{---}l'oeuvre
c'est tout},' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{A CASE OF IDENTITY}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{A CASE OF IDENTITY}

{}``My dear fellow,'' said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side
of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, {}``life is infinitely
stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We would
not dare to conceive the things which are really mere commonplaces
of existence. If we could fly out of that window hand in hand, hover
over this great city, gently remove the roofs, and peep in at the
queer things which are going on, the strange coincidences, the plannings,
the cross-purposes, the wonderful chains of events, working through
generation, and leading to the most \emph{outré} results, it would
make all fiction with its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions
most stale and unprofitable.''

{}``And yet I am not convinced of it,'' I answered. {}``The cases
which come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and
vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to its
extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, neither
fascinating nor artistic.''

{}``A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing
a realistic effect,'' remarked Holmes. {}``This is wanting in the
police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the platitudes
of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an observer contain
the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend upon it, there is nothing
so unnatural as the commonplace.''

I smiled and shook my head. {}``I can quite understand your thinking
so.'' I said. {}``Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser
and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout three
continents, you are brought in contact with all that is strange and
bizarre. But here\char`\"{}\mdsh{---}I picked up the morning paper
from the ground\mdsh{---}\char`\"{}let us put it to a practical test.
Here is the first heading upon which I come. `A husband's cruelty
to his wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without
reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of course,
the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the bruise, the sympathetic
sister or landlady. The crudest of writers could invent nothing more
crude.''

{}``Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument,''
said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. {}``This
is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged in
clearing up some small points in connection with it. The husband was
a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the conduct complained
of was that he had drifted into the habit of winding up every meal
by taking out his false teeth and hurling them at his wife, which,
you will allow, is not an action likely to occur to the imagination
of the average story-teller. Take a pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge
that I have scored over you in your example.''

He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the
centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his homely
ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon it.

{}``Ah,'' said he, {}``I forgot that I had not seen you for some
weeks. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return
for my assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers.''

{}``And the ring?'' I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant
which sparkled upon his finger.

{}``It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter
in which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide
it even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two
of my little problems.''

{}``And have you any on hand just now?'' I asked with interest.

{}``Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of interest.
They are important, you understand, without being interesting. Indeed,
I have found that it is usually in unimportant matters that there
is a field for the observation, and for the quick analysis of cause
and effect which gives the charm to an investigation. The larger crimes
are apt to be the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious,
as a rule, is the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate
matter which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing
which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however,
that I may have something better before very many minutes are over,
for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken.''

He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted blinds
gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. Looking over
his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite there stood a large
woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, and a large curling red
feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was tilted in a coquettish Duchess
of Devonshire fashion over her ear. From under this great panoply
she peeped up in a nervous, hesitating fashion at our windows, while
her body oscillated backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted
with her glove buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer
who leaves the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the
sharp clang of the bell.

{}``I have seen those symptoms before,'' said Holmes, throwing his
cigarette into the fire. {}``Oscillation upon the pavement always
means an \emph{affaire de coeur}. She would like advice, but is not
sure that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet
even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously wronged
by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom is a broken
bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love matter, but that
the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or grieved. But here
she comes in person to resolve our doubts.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-iden-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Sherlock Holmes welcomed her.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons entered
to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself loomed behind
his small black figure like a full-sailed merchant-man behind a tiny
pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed her with the easy courtesy for
which he was remarkable, and, having closed the door and bowed her
into an armchair, he looked her over in the minute and yet abstracted
fashion which was peculiar to him.

{}``Do you not find,'' he said, {}``that with your short sight
it is a little trying to do so much typewriting?''

{}``I did at first,'' she answered, {}``but now I know where the
letters are without looking.'' Then, suddenly realizing the full
purport of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with
fear and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. {}``You've
heard about me, Mr.\ Holmes,'' she cried, {}``else how could you
know all that?''

{}``Never mind,'' said Holmes, laughing; {}``it is my business
to know things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others overlook.
If not, why should you come to consult me?''

{}``I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs.\ Etherege,
whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had given
him up for dead. Oh, Mr.\ Holmes, I wish you would do as much for
me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in my own right,
besides the little that I make by the machine, and I would give it
all to know what has become of Mr.\ Hosmer Angel.''

{}``Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?''\ asked
Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to the
ceiling.

Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss
Mary Sutherland. {}``Yes, I did bang out of the house,'' she said,
{}``for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr.\ Windibank\mdsh{---}that
is, my father\mdsh{---}took it all. He would not go to the police,
and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he would do nothing
and kept on saying that there was no harm done, it made me mad, and
I just on with my things and came right away to you.''

{}``Your father,'' said Holmes, {}``your stepfather, surely, since
the name is different.''

{}``Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny,
too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself.''

{}``And your mother is alive?''

{}``Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr.\ Holmes,
when she married again so soon after father's death, and a man who
was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father was a plumber
in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy business behind him,
which mother carried on with Mr.\ Hardy, the foreman; but when Mr.\ Windibank
came he made her sell the business, for he was very superior, being
a traveller in wines. They got \pounds{}4700 for the goodwill and
interest, which wasn't near as much as father could have got if he
had been alive.''

I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this rambling
and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary he had listened
with the greatest concentration of attention.

{}``Your own little income,'' he asked, {}``does it come out of
the business?''

{}``Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle
Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4\textonehalf{}
per cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can
only touch the interest.''

{}``You interest me extremely,'' said Holmes. {}``And since you
draw so large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the
bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in every
way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely upon an income
of about \pounds{}60.''

{}``I could do with much less than that, Mr.\ Holmes, but you understand
that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a burden to them,
and so they have the use of the money just while I am staying with
them. Of course, that is only just for the time. Mr.\ Windibank draws
my interest every quarter and pays it over to mother, and I find that
I can do pretty well with what I earn at typewriting. It brings me
twopence a sheet, and I can often do from fifteen to twenty sheets
in a-day.''

{}``You have made your position very clear to me,'' said Holmes.
{}``This is my friend, Dr.\ Watson, before whom you can speak as
freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your connection
with Mr.\ Hosmer Angel.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-iden-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small At the gasfitters' ball.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked nervously
at the fringe of her jacket. {}``I met him first at the gasfitters'
ball,'' she said. {}``They used to send father tickets when he was
alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and sent them to mother.
Mr.\ Windibank did not wish us to go. He never did wish us to go
anywhere. He would get quite mad if I wanted so much as to join a
Sunday-school treat. But this time I was set on going, and I would
go; for what right had he to prevent? He said the folk were not fit
for us to know, when all father's friends were to be there. And he
said that I had nothing fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that
I had never so much as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing
else would do, he went off to France upon the business of the firm,
but we went, mother and I, with Mr.\ Hardy, who used to be our foreman,
and it was there I met Mr.\ Hosmer Angel.''

{}``I suppose,'' said Holmes, {}``that when Mr.\ Windibank came
back from France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball.''

{}``Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember,
and shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying anything
to a woman, for she would have her way.''

{}``I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand,
a gentleman called Mr.\ Hosmer Angel.''

{}``Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask
if we had got home all safe, and after that we met him\mdsh{---}that
is to say, Mr.\ Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that
father came back again, and Mr.\ Hosmer Angel could not come to the
house any more.''

{}``No?''

{}``Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He wouldn't
have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to say that a woman
should be happy in her own family circle. But then, as I used to say
to mother, a woman wants her own circle to begin with, and I had not
got mine yet.''

{}``But how about Mr.\ Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see
you?''

{}``Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer
wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each other
until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he used to
write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so there was
no need for father to know.''

{}``Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?''

{}``Oh, yes, Mr.\ Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that
we took. Hosmer\mdsh{---}Mr.\ Angel\mdsh{---}was a cashier in an
office in Leadenhall Street\mdsh{---}and\mdsh{---}''

{}``What office?''

{}``That's the worst of it, Mr.\ Holmes, I don't know.''

{}``Where did he live, then?''

{}``He slept on the premises.''

{}``And you don't know his address?''

{}``No\mdsh{---}except that it was Leadenhall Street.''

{}``Where did you address your letters, then?''

{}``To the Leadenhall Street Post-Office, to be left till called
for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed
by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, so I offered
to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't have that, for
he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come from me, but when
they were typewritten he always felt that the machine had come between
us. That will just show you how fond he was of me, Mr.\ Holmes, and
the little things that he would think of.''

{}``It was most suggestive,'' said Holmes. {}``It has long been
an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.
Can you remember any other little things about Mr.\ Hosmer Angel?''

{}``He was a very shy man, Mr.\ Holmes. He would rather walk with
me in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated
to be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his
voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he was
young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, and a hesitating,
whispering fashion of speech. He was always well dressed, very neat
and plain, but his eyes were weak, just as mine are, and he wore tinted
glasses against the glare.''

{}``Well, and what happened when Mr.\ Windibank, your stepfather,
returned to France?''

{}``Mr.\ Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that
we should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest
and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever happened
I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite right to make
me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. Mother was all in
his favor from the first and was even fonder of him than I was. Then,
when they talked of marrying within the week, I began to ask about
father; but they both said never to mind about father, but just to
tell him afterwards, and mother said she would make it all right with
him. I didn't quite like that, Mr.\ Holmes. It seemed funny that
I should ask his leave, as he was only a few years older than me;
but I didn't want to do anything on the sly, so I wrote to father
at Bordeaux, where the company has its French offices, but the letter
came back to me on the very morning of the wedding.''

{}``It missed him, then?''

{}``Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived.''

{}``Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for
the Friday. Was it to be in church?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-iden-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small There was no one there!}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St.\ Saviour's,
near King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the
St. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were
two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a four-wheeler,
which happened to be the only other cab in the street. We got to the
church first, and when the four-wheeler drove up we waited for him
to step out, but he never did, and when the cabman got down from the
box and looked there was no one there! The cabman said that he could
not imagine what had become of him, for he had seen him get in with
his own eyes. That was last Friday, Mr.\ Holmes, and I have never
seen or heard anything since then to throw any light upon what became
of him.''

{}``It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated,''
said Holmes.

{}``Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all
the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to
be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to separate
us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, and that he
would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed strange talk for
a wedding-morning, but what has happened since gives a meaning to
it.''

{}``Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some
unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?''

{}``Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he would
not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw happened.''

{}``But you have no notion as to what it could have been?''

{}``None.''

{}``One more question. How did your mother take the matter?''

{}``She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter
again.''

{}``And your father? Did you tell him?''

{}``Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had happened,
and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, what interest
could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the church, and then
leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my money, or if he had married
me and got my money settled on him, there might be some reason, but
Hosmer was very independent about money and never would look at a
shilling of mine. And yet, what could have happened? And why could
he not write? Oh, it drives me half-mad to think of it, and I can't
sleep a wink at night.'' She pulled a little handkerchief out of
her muff and began to sob heavily into it.

{}``I shall glance into the case for you,'' said Holmes, rising,
{}``and I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result.
Let the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your
mind dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr.\ Hosmer Angel
vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life.''

{}``Then you don't think I'll see him again?''

{}``I fear not.''

{}``Then what has happened to him?''

{}``You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an accurate
description of him and any letters of his which you can spare.''

{}``I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle,'' said she.
{}``Here is the slip and here are four letters from him.''

{}``Thank you. And your address?''

{}``No.\ 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell.''

{}``Mr.\ Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your
father's place of business?''

{}``He travels for Westhouse \& Marbank, the great claret importers
of Fenchurch Street.''

{}``Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will
leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given
you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it
to affect your life.''

{}``You are very kind, Mr.\ Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall
be true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-iden-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small She laid a little bundle upon
the table.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was something
noble in the simple faith of our visitor which compelled our respect.
She laid her little bundle of papers upon the table and went her way,
with a promise to come again whenever she might be summoned.

Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips still
pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, and his
gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down from the rack
the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a counsellor, and,
having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with the thick blue cloud-wreaths
spinning up from him, and a look of infinite languor in his face.

{}``Quite an interesting study, that maiden,'' he observed. {}``I
found her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the
way, is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you consult
my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of the sort at
The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, there were one or
two details which were new to me. But the maiden herself was most
instructive.''

{}``You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite invisible
to me,'' I remarked.

{}``Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to
look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring
you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumb-nails,
or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Now, what did
you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe it.''

{}``Well, she had a slate-colored, broad-brimmed straw hat, with
a feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads
sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her dress
was brown, rather darker than coffee color, with a little purple plush
at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were grayish and were worn through
at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't observe. She had small
round, hanging gold earrings, and a general air of being fairly well-to-do
in a vulgar, comfortable, easy-going way.''

Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled.

{}``'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have
really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed everything
of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and you have a quick
eye for color. Never trust to general impressions, my boy, but concentrate
yourself upon details. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve.
In a man it is perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser.
As you observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a
most useful material for showing traces. The double line a little
above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table,
was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, leaves
a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side of it farthest
from the thumb, instead of being right across the broadest part, as
this was. I then glanced at her face, and, observing the dint of a
\emph{pince-nez} at either side of her nose, I ventured a remark upon
short sight and typewriting, which seemed to surprise her.''

{}``It surprised me.''

{}``But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and interested
on glancing down to observe that, though the boots which she was wearing
were not unlike each other, they were really odd ones; the one having
a slightly decorated toe-cap, and the other a plain one. One was buttoned
only in the two lower buttons out of five, and the other at the first,
third, and fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly
dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, it
is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry.''

{}``And what else?''\ I asked, keenly interested, as I always was,
by my friend's incisive reasoning.

{}``I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving
home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right glove
was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see that both
glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had written in
a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been this morning,
or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. All this is amusing,
though rather elementary, but I must go back to business, Watson.
Would you mind reading me the advertised description of Mr.\ Hosmer
Angel?''

I held the little printed slip to the light.

\begin{quote}
{}``Missing {[}it said{]} on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman
named Hosmer Angel. About five ft.\ seven in.\ in height; strongly
built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the centre,
bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted glasses, slight infirmity
of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, in black frock-coat faced
with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert chain, and gray Harris tweed
trousers, with brown gaiters over elastic-sided boots. Known to have
been employed in an office in Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing\mdsh{---}''
\end{quote}
{}

{}``That will do,'' said Holmes. {}``As to the letters,'' he continued,
glancing over them, {}``they are very commonplace. Absolutely no
clew in them to Mr.\ Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There
is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike you.''

{}``They are typewritten,'' I remarked.

{}``Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the
neat little `Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you see,
but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is rather vague.
The point about the signature is very suggestive\mdsh{---}in fact,
we may call it conclusive.''

{}``Of what?''

{}``My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it
bears upon the case?''

{}``I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able
to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were instituted.''

{}``No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters,
which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the
other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr.\ Windibank, asking him
whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow evening. It
is just as well that we should do business with the male relatives.
And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the answers to those letters
come, so we may put our little problem upon the shelf for the interim.''

I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers
of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that he
must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy demeanour with
which he treated the singular mystery which he had been called upon
to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in the case of the King
of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler photograph; but when I looked back
to the weird business of `The Sign of Four', and the extraordinary
circumstances connected with `A Study in Scarlet', I felt that it
would be a strange tangle indeed which he could not unravel.

I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the conviction
that when I came again on the next evening I would find that he held
in his hands all the clews which would lead up to the identity of
the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary Sutherland.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-iden-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I found Sherlock Holmes half
asleep.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own attention
at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at the bedside of
the sufferer. It was not until close upon six o'clock that I found
myself free and was able to spring into a hansom and drive to Baker
Street, half afraid that I might be too late to assist at the denouement
of the little mystery. I found Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half
asleep, with his long, thin form curled up in the recesses of his
armchair. A formidable array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent
cleanly smell of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his
day in the chemical work which was so dear to him.

{}``Well, have you solved it?'' I asked as I entered.

{}``Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta.''

{}``No, no, the mystery!'' I cried.

{}``Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon.
There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said yesterday,
some of the details are of interest. The only drawback is that there
is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel.''

{}``Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Sutherland?''

The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet opened
his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the passage and
a tap at the door.

{}``This is the girl's stepfather, Mr.\ James Windibank,'' said
Holmes. {}``He has written to me to say that he would be here at
six. Come in!''

The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some thirty
years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a bland, insinuating
manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and penetrating gray eyes.
He shot a questioning glance at each of us, placed his shiny top-hat
upon the sideboard, and with a slight bow sidled down into the nearest
chair.

{}``Good-evening, Mr.\ James Windibank,'' said Holmes. {}``I think
that this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an appointment
with me for six o'clock?''

{}``Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not quite
my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland has troubled
you about this little matter, for I think it is far better not to
wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite against my wishes that
she came, but she is a very excitable, impulsive girl, as you may
have noticed, and she is not easily controlled when she has made up
her mind on a point. Of course, I did not mind you so much, as you
are not connected with the official police, but it is not pleasant
to have a family misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is
a useless expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?''

{}``On the contrary,'' said Holmes quietly; {}``I have every reason
to believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr.\ Hosmer Angel.''

Mr.\ Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. {}``I
am delighted to hear it,'' he said.

{}``It is a curious thing,'' remarked Holmes, {}``that a typewriter
has really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless
they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some letters
get more worn than others, and some wear only on one side. Now, you
remark in this note of yours, Mr.\ Windibank, that in every case
there is some little slurring over of the `e,' and a slight defect
in the tail of the `r.' There are fourteen other characteristics,
but those are the more obvious.''

{}``We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office,
and no doubt it is a little worn,'' our visitor answered, glancing
keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes.

{}``And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study,
Mr.\ Windibank,'' Holmes continued. {}``I think of writing another
little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its relation
to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some little attention.
I have here four letters which purport to come from the missing man.
They are all typewritten. In each case, not only are the `e's' slurred
and the `r's' tailless, but you will observe, if you care to use my
magnifying lens, that the fourteen other characteristics to which
I have alluded are there as well.''

Mr.\ Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. {}``I
cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr.\ Holmes,''
he said. {}``If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know
when you have done it.''

{}``Certainly,'' said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key
in the door. {}``I let you know, then, that I have caught him!''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-iden-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Glancing about him like a rat
in a trap.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``What!\ where?''\ shouted Mr.\ Windibank, turning white to
his lips and glancing about him like a rat in a trap.

{}``Oh, it won't do\mdsh{---}really it won't,'' said Holmes suavely.
{}``There is no possible getting out of it, Mr.\ Windibank. It is
quite too transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said
that it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's
right! Sit down and let us talk it over.''

Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a glitter
of moisture on his brow. {}``It\mdsh{---}it's not actionable,''
he stammered.

{}``I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves,
Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a
petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the course
of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong.''

The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his breast,
like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up on the corner
of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands in his pockets,
began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, than to us.

{}``The man married a woman very much older than himself for her
money,'' said he, {}``and he enjoyed the use of the money of the
daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable sum,
for people in their position, and the loss of it would have made a
serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. The daughter
was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate and warm-hearted
in her ways, so that it was evident that with her fair personal advantages,
and her little income, she would not be allowed to remain single long.
Now her marriage would mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year,
so what does her stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious
course of keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company
of people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not answer
forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and finally
announced her positive intention of going to a certain ball. What
does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an idea more creditable
to his head than to his heart. With the connivance and assistance
of his wife he disguised himself, covered those keen eyes with tinted
glasses, masked the face with a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers,
sunk that clear voice into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure
on account of the girl's short sight, he appears as Mr.\ Hosmer Angel,
and keeps off other lovers by making love himself.''

{}``It was only a joke at first,'' groaned our visitor. {}``We
never thought that she would have been so carried away.''

{}``Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very
decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that her
stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never for an
instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gentleman's attentions,
and the effect was increased by the loudly expressed admiration of
her mother. Then Mr.\ Angel began to call, for it was obvious that
the matter should be pushed as far as it would go if a real effect
were to be produced. There were meetings, and an engagement, which
would finally secure the girl's affections from turning towards anyone
else. But the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended
journeys to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly
to bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it
would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and
prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to come.
Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and hence also
the allusions to a possibility of something happening on the very
morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss Sutherland to
be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to his fate, that
for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not listen to another
man. As far as the church door he brought her, and then, as he could
go no farther, he conveniently vanished away by the old trick of stepping
in at one door of a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that
was the chain of events, Mr.\ Windibank!''

Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes
had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold sneer
upon his pale face.

{}``It may be so, or it may not. Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he, {}``but
if you are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that
it is you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing
actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door locked
you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal constraint.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-iden-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He took two swift steps to the
whip.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``The law cannot, as you say, touch you,'' said Holmes, unlocking
and throwing open the door, {}``yet there never was a man who deserved
punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a friend, he ought
to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!'' he continued, flushing
up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon the man's face, {}``it is
not part of my duties to my client, but here's a hunting crop handy,
and I think I shall just treat myself to\mdsh{---}'' He took two
swift steps to the whip, but before he could grasp it there was a
wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, the heavy hall door banged,
and from the window we could see Mr.\ James Windibank running at
the top of his speed down the road.

{}``There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!''\ said Holmes, laughing,
as he threw himself down into his chair once more. {}``That fellow
will rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and
ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not entirely
devoid of interest.''

{}``I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning,''
I remarked.

{}``Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr.\ Hosmer
Angel must have some strong object for his curious conduct, and it
was equally clear that the only man who really profited by the incident,
as far as we could see, was the stepfather. Then the fact that the
two men were never together, but that the one always appeared when
the other was away, was suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles
and the curious voice, which both hinted at a disguise, as did the
bushy whiskers. My suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action
in typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his
handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognize even the
smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, together
with many minor ones, all pointed in the same direction.''

{}``And how did you verify them?''

{}``Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration.
I knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed
description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the result
of a disguise\mdsh{---}the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and
I sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me whether
it answered to the description of any of their travellers. I had already
noticed the peculiarities of the typewriter, and I wrote to the man
himself at his business address asking him if he would come here.
As I expected, his reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial
but characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from
Westhouse \& Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the description
tallied in every respect with that of their employee, James Windibank.
\emph{Voila tout}!''

{}``And Miss Sutherland?''

{}``If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old
Persian saying, `There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub,
and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' There
is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the
world.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY
MYSTERY}

We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the maid
brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran in this
way:

\begin{quote}
Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from
the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. Shall
be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Leave Paddington
by the 11:15.
\end{quote}
{}``What do you say, dear?'' said my wife, looking across at me.
{}``Will you go?''

{}``I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at
present.''

{}``Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking
a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, and
you are always so interested in Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes's cases.''

{}``I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained through
one of them,'' I answered. {}``But if I am to go, I must pack at
once, for I have only half an hour.''

My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the effect
of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were few and simple,
so that in less than the time stated I was in a cab with my valise,
rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Holmes was pacing up
and down the platform, his tall, gaunt figure made even gaunter and
taller by his long gray travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap.

{}``It is really very good of you to come, Watson,'' said he. {}``It
makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on whom
I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless or else
biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall get the tickets.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small We had the carriage to ourselves.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of papers
which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged and read,
with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until we were past
Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a gigantic ball and
tossed them up onto the rack.

{}``Have you heard anything of the case?'' he asked.

{}``Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days.''

{}``The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just
been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the
particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those simple
cases which are so extremely difficult.''

{}``That sounds a little paradoxical.''

{}``But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a
clew. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more difficult
it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they have established
a very serious case against the son of the murdered man.''

{}``It is a murder, then?''

{}``Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for granted
until I have the opportunity of looking personally into it. I will
explain the state of things to you, as far as I have been able to
understand it, in a very few words.

{}``Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross,
in Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a
Mr.\ John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned some
years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he held, that
of Hatherley, was let to Mr.\ Charles McCarthy, who was also an ex-Australian.
The men had known each other in the colonies, so that it was not unnatural
that when they came to settle down they should do so as near each
other as possible. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy
became his tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect
equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son,
a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same age,
but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have avoided
the society of the neighboring English families and to have led retired
lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of sport and were frequently
seen at the race-meetings of the neighborhood. McCarthy kept two servants\mdsh{---}a
man and a girl. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen
at the least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about
the families. Now for the facts.

{}``On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house
at Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the Boscombe
Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out of the stream
which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been out with his serving-man
in the morning at Ross, and he had told the man that he must hurry,
as he had an appointment of importance to keep at three. From that
appointment he never came back alive.

{}``From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of
a mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One
was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was William
Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr.\ Turner. Both these witnesses
depose that Mr.\ McCarthy was walking alone. The game-keeper adds
that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr.\ McCarthy pass he had
seen his son, Mr.\ James McCarthy, going the same way with a gun
under his arm. To the best of his belief, the father was actually
in sight at the time, and the son was following him. He thought no
more of the matter until he heard in the evening of the tragedy that
had occurred.

{}``The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder,
the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly
wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the edge.
A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper
of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers.
She states that while she was there she saw, at the border of the
wood and close by the lake, Mr.\ McCarthy and his son, and that they
appeared to be having a violent quarrel. She heard Mr.\ McCarthy
the elder using very strong language to his son, and she saw the latter
raise up his hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened
by their violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached
home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near Boscombe
Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to fight. She had
hardly said the words when young Mr.\ McCarthy came running up to
the lodge to say that he had found his father dead in the wood, and
to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was much excited, without
either his gun or his hat, and his right hand and sleeve were observed
to be stained with fresh blood. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-bosc-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small They found the body.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
On following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the grass
beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated blows of
some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as might very
well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's gun, which was
found lying on the grass within a few paces of the body. Under these
circumstances the young man was instantly arrested, and a verdict
of `wilful murder' having been returned at the inquest on Tuesday,
he was on Wednesday brought before the magistrates at Ross, who have
referred the case to the next Assizes. Those are the main facts of
the case as they came out before the coroner and the police-court.''

{}``I could hardly imagine a more damning case,'' I remarked. {}``If
ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so here.''

{}``Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing,'' answered Holmes
thoughtfully. {}``It may seem to point very straight to one thing,
but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it
pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something entirely
different. It must be confessed, however, that the case looks exceedingly
grave against the young man, and it is very possible that he is indeed
the culprit. There are several people in the neighborhood, however,
and among them Miss Turner, the daughter of the neighboring landowner,
who believe in his innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom
you may recollect in connection with `A Study in Scarlet', to work
out the case in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has
referred the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen
are flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly digesting
their breakfasts at home.''

{}``I am afraid,'' said I, {}``that the facts are so obvious that
you will find little credit to be gained out of this case.''

{}``There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact,'' he answered,
laughing. {}``Besides, we may chance to hit upon some other obvious
facts which may have been by no means obvious to Mr.\ Lestrade. You
know me too well to think that I am boasting when I say that I shall
either confirm or destroy his theory by means which he is quite incapable
of employing, or even of understanding. To take the first example
to hand, I very clearly perceive that in your bedroom the window is
upon the right-hand side, and yet I question whether Mr.\ Lestrade
would have noted even so self-evident a thing as that.''

{}``How on earth\mdsh{---}''

{}``My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness
which characterizes you. You shave every morning, and in this season
you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less and less
complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it becomes
positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the jaw, it is surely
very clear that that side is less illuminated than the other. I could
not imagine a man of your habits looking at himself in an equal light
and being satisfied with such a result. I only quote this as a trivial
example of observation and inference. Therein lies my \emph{m\'{e}tier},
and it is just possible that it may be of some service in the investigation
which lies before us. There are one or two minor points which were
brought out in the inquest, and which are worth considering.''

{}``What are they?''

{}``It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after
the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary informing
him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not surprised
to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. This observation
of his had the natural effect of removing any traces of doubt which
might have remained in the minds of the coroner's jury.''

{}``It was a confession,'' I ejaculated.

{}``No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence.''

{}``Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was
at least a most suspicious remark.''

{}``On the contrary,'' said Holmes, {}``it is the brightest rift
which I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might
be, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the
circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared surprised
at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I should have looked
upon it as highly suspicious, because such surprise or anger would
not be natural under the circumstances, and yet might appear to be
the best policy to a scheming man. His frank acceptance of the situation
marks him as either an innocent man, or else as a man of considerable
self-restraint and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it
was also not unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead
body of his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very
day so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and
even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so important,
to raise his hand as if to strike him. The self-reproach and contrition
which are displayed in his remark appear to me to be the signs of
a healthy mind rather than of a guilty one.''

I shook my head. {}``Many men have been hanged on far slighter evidence,''
I remarked.

{}``So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged.''

{}``What is the young man's own account of the matter?''

{}``It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, though
there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. You will find
it here, and may read it for yourself.''

He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire paper,
and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the paragraph in which
the unfortunate young man had given his own statement of what had
occurred. I settled myself down in the corner of the carriage and
read it very carefully. It ran in this way:

\begin{quotation}
{}``Mr.\ James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then
called and gave evidence as follows: {}``I had been away from home
for three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the morning
of last Monday, the 3d. My father was absent from home at the time
of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he had driven over
to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after my return I heard
the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, looking out of my window,
I saw him get out and walk rapidly out of the yard, though I was not
aware in which direction he was going. I then took my gun and strolled
out in the direction of the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting
the rabbit warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William
Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but he
is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had no idea
that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards from the pool
I heard a cry of `Cooee!'\ which was a usual signal between my father
and myself. I then hurried forward, and found him standing by the
pool. He appeared to be much surprised at seeing me and asked me rather
roughly what I was doing there. A conversation ensued which led to
high words and almost to blows, for my father was a man of a very
violent temper. Seeing that his passion was becoming ungovernable,
I left him and returned towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more
than 150 yards, however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me,
which caused me to run back again. I found my father expiring upon
the ground, with his head terribly injured. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I held him in my arms.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I dropped my gun and held him in my arms, but he almost instantly
expired. I knelt beside him for some minutes, and then made my way
to Mr.\ Turner's lodge-keeper, his house being the nearest, to ask
for assistance. I saw no one near my father when I returned, and I
have no idea how he came by his injuries. He was not a popular man,
being somewhat cold and forbidding in his manners, but he had, as
far as I know, no active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.''

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `Did your father make any statement to
you before he died?'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch
some allusion to a rat.'

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `What did you understand by that?'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that
he was delirious.'

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `What was the point upon which you and
your father had this final quarrel?'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `I should prefer not to answer.'

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `I am afraid that I must press it.'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `It is really impossible for me to tell you.
I can assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which
followed.'

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `That is for the court to decide. I need
not point out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your
case considerably in any future proceedings which may arise'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `I must still refuse.'

{}``\noun{\small The Coroner}: `I understand that the cry of {}``Cooee''
was a common signal between you and your father?'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `It was.'

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `How was it, then, that he uttered it before
he saw you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol?'

{}``\noun{Witness} (with considerable confusion): `I do not know.'

{}``\noun{A Juryman}: `Did you see nothing which aroused your suspiclons
when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father fatally
injured?'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `Nothing definite.'

{}``\noun{The Coroner}: `What do you mean?'

{}``\noun{Witness}: `I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed
out into the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father.
Yet I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay
upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be something
gray in color, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. When I rose
from my father I looked round for it, but it was gone.'

{}```Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?'

{}```Yes, it was gone.'

{}```You cannot say what it was?'

{}```No, I had a feeling something was there.'

{}```How far from the body?'

{}```A dozen yards or so.'

{}```And how far from the edge of the wood?'

{}```About the same.'

{}``'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen
yards of it?'

{}```Yes, but with my back towards it.'

{}``This concluded the examination of the witness.''
\end{quotation}
{}``I see,'' said I as I glanced down the column, {}``that the
coroner in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy.
He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his
father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his refusal
to give details of his conversation with his father, and his singular
account of his father's dying words. They are all, as he remarks,
very much against the son.''

Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon the
cushioned seat. {}``Both you and the coroner have been at some pains,''
said he, {}``to single out the very strongest points in the young
man's favor. Don't you see that you alternately give him credit for
having too much imagination and too little? Too little, if he could
not invent a cause of quarrel which would give him the sympathy of
the jury; too much, if he evolved from his own inner consciousness
anything so \emph{outré} as a dying reference to a rat, and the incident
of the vanishing cloth. No, sir, I shall approach this case from the
point of view that what this young man says is true, and we shall
see whither that hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket
Petrarch, and not another word shall I say of this case until we are
on the scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall
be there in twenty minutes.''

It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through
the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, found
ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A lean, ferret-like
man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for us upon the platform.
In spite of the light brown dustcoat and leather-leggings which he
wore in deference to his rustic surroundings, I had no difficulty
in recognizing Lestrade, of Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the
Hereford Arms where a room had already been engaged for us.

{}``I have ordered a carriage,'' said Lestrade as we sat over a
cup of tea. {}``I knew your energetic nature, and that you would
not be happy until you had been on the scene of the crime.''

{}``It was very nice and complimentary of you,'' Holmes answered.
{}``It is entirely a question of barometric pressure.''

Lestrade looked startled. {}``I do not quite follow,'' he said.

{}``How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud
in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need smoking,
and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country hotel abomination.
I do not think that it is probable that I shall use the carriage to-night.''

Lestrade laughed indulgently. {}``You have, no doubt, already formed
your conclusions from the newspapers,'' he said. {}``The case is
as plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer
it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a
very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your
opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing which
you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my soul! here
is her carriage at the door.''

He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the
most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her violet
eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her cheeks, all thought
of her natural reserve lost in her overpowering excitement and concern.

{}``Oh, Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes!''\ she cried, glancing from one
to the other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, fastening
upon my companion, {}``I am so glad that you have come. I have driven
down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. I know it, and
I want you to start upon your work knowing it, too. Never let yourself
doubt upon that point. We have known each other since we were little
children, and I know his faults as no one else does; but he is too
tenderhearted to hurt a fly. Such a charge is absurd to anyone who
really knows him.''

{}``I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner,'' said Sherlock Holmes.
{}``You may rely upon my doing all that I can.''

{}``But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion?
Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself think
that he is innocent?''

{}``I think that it is very probable.''

{}``There, now!'' she cried, throwing back her head and looking
defiantly at Lestrade. {}``You hear! He gives me hopes.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Lestrade shrugged his shoulders.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. {}``I am afraid that my colleague
has been a little quick in forming his conclusions,'' he said.

{}``But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did
it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the reason
why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because I was concerned
in it.''

{}``In what way?'' asked Holmes.

{}``It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had
many disagreements about me. Mr.\ McCarthy was very anxious that
there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always loved
each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young and has
seen very little of life yet, and\mdsh{---}and\mdsh{---}well, he
naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there were
quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them.''

{}``And your father?'' asked Holmes. {}``Was he in favor of such
a union?''

{}``No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr.\ McCarthy was in
favor of it.'' A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as
Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her.

{}``Thank you for this information,'' said he. {}``May I see your
father if I call to-morrow?''

{}``I am afraid the doctor won't allow it.''

{}``The doctor?''

{}``Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for
years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken
to his bed, and Dr.\ Willows says that he is a wreck and that his
nervous system is shattered. Mr.\ McCarthy was the only man alive
who had known dad in the old days in Victoria.''

{}``Ha! In Victoria! That is important.''

{}``Yes, at the mines.''

{}``Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr.\ Turner
made his money.''

{}``Yes, certainly.''

{}``Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance
to me.''

{}``You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you
will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr.\ Holmes, do
tell him that I know him to be innocent.''

{}``I will, Miss Turner.''

{}``I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so
if I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking.''
She hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we
heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street.

{}``I am ashamed of you, Holmes,'' said Lestrade with dignity after
a few minutes' silence. {}``Why should you raise up hopes which you
are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I call
it cruel.''

{}``I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy,'' said
Holmes. {}``Have you an order to see him in prison?''

{}``Yes, but only for you and me.''

{}``Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have
still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?''

{}``Ample.''

{}``Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very
slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I tried to interest myself in
a yellow-backed novel.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through
the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, where
I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a yellow-backed
novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, however, when compared
to the deep mystery through which we were groping, and I found my
attention wander so continually from the action to the fact, that
I at last flung it across the room and gave myself up entirely to
a consideration of the events of the day. Supposing that this unhappy
young man's story were absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what
absolutely unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred
between the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when
drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was something
terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the nature of the
injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? I rang the bell
and called for the weekly county paper, which contained a verbatim
account of the inquest. In the surgeon's deposition it was stated
that the posterior third of the left parietal bone and the left half
of the occipital bone had been shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt
weapon. I marked the spot upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must
have been struck from behind. That was to some extent in favor of
the accused, as when seen quarrelling he was face to face with his
father. Still, it did not go for very much, for the older man might
have turned his back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth
while to call Holmes's attention to it. Then there was the peculiar
dying reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be delirium.
A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become delirious.
No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how he met his
fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my brains to find some
possible explanation. And then the incident of the gray cloth seen
by young McCarthy. If that were true the murderer must have dropped
some part of his dress, presumably his overcoat, in his flight, and
must have had the hardihood to return and to carry it away at the
instant when the son was kneeling with his back turned not a dozen
paces off. What a tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole
thing was! I did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so
much faith in Sherlock Holmes's insight that I could not lose hope
as long as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of
young McCarthy's innocence.

It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, for
Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town.

{}``The glass still keeps very high,'' he remarked as he sat down.
{}``It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able
to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his very
best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not wish to
do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young McCarthy.''

{}``And what did you learn from him?''

{}``Nothing.''

{}``Could he throw no light?''

{}``None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew
who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced now
that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very quick-witted
youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, sound at heart.''

{}``I cannot admire his taste,'' I remarked, {}``if it is indeed
a fact that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady
as this Miss Turner.''

{}``Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly,
insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was only
a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away five years
at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get into the clutches
of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a registry office? No one
knows a word of the matter, but you can imagine how maddening it must
be to him to be upbraided for not doing what he would give his very
eyes to do, but what he knows to be absolutely impossible. It was
sheer frenzy of this sort which made him throw his hands up into the
air when his father, at their last interview, was goading him on to
propose to Miss Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting
himself, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man,
would have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was
with his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Bristol,
and his father did not know where he was. Mark that point. It is of
importance. Good has come out of evil, however, for the barmaid, finding
from the papers that he is in serious trouble and likely to be hanged,
has thrown him over utterly and has written to him to say that she
has a husband already in the Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really
no tie between them. I think that that bit of news has consoled young
McCarthy for all that he has suffered.''

{}``But if he is innocent, who has done it?''

{}``Ah!\ who? I would call your attention very particularly to two
points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with someone
at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his son, for
his son was away, and he did not know when he would return. The second
is that the murdered man was heard to cry `Cooee!' before he knew
that his son had returned. Those are the crucial points upon which
the case depends. And now let us talk about George Meredith, if you
please, and we shall leave all minor matters until to-morrow.''

There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke bright
and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with the carriage,
and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe Pool.

{}``There is serious news this morning,'' Lestrade observed. {}``It
is said that Mr.\ Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is
despaired of.''

{}``An elderly man, I presume?'' said Holmes.

{}``About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life
abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This business
has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend of McCarthy's,
and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I have learned that
he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free.''

{}``Indeed! That is interesting,'' said Holmes.

{}``Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody
about here speaks of his kindness to him.''

{}``Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this
McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have been
under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of marrying his
son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, heiress to the estate,
and that in such a very cocksure manner, as if it were merely a case
of a proposal and all else would follow? It is the more strange, since
we know that Turner himself was averse to the idea. The daughter told
us as much. Do you not deduce something from that?''

{}``We have got to the deductions and the inferences,'' said Lestrade,
winking at me. {}``I find it hard enough to tackle facts, Holmes,
without flying away after theories and fancies.''

{}``You are right,'' said Holmes demurely; {}``you do find it very
hard to tackle the facts.''

{}``Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it difficult
to get hold of,'' replied Lestrade with some warmth.

{}``And that is\mdsh{---}''

{}``That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that
all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine.''

{}``Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog,'' said Holmes,
laughing. {}``But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley
Farm upon the left.''

{}``Yes, that is it.'' It was a widespread, comfortable-looking
building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches of
lichen upon the gray walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless chimneys,
however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight of this horror
still lay heavy upon it. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The maid showed us the boots.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
We called at the door, when the maid, at Holmes's request, showed
us the boots which her master wore at the time of his death, and also
a pair of the son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having
measured these very carefully from seven or eight different points,
Holmes desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed
the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool.

Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent
as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of
Baker Street would have failed to recognize him. His face flushed
and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, while
his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. His face
was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips compressed, and the
veins stood out like whipcord in his long, sinewy neck. His nostrils
seemed to dilate with a purely animal lust for the chase, and his
mind was so absolutely concentrated upon the matter before him that
a question or remark fell unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most,
only provoked a quick, impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently
he made his way along the track which ran through the meadows, and
so by way of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground,
as is all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon
the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either side.
Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and once he
made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and I walked
behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, while I watched
my friend with the interest which sprang from the conviction that
every one of his actions was directed towards a definite end.

The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water some
fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Hatherley
Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr.\ Turner. Above the woods
which lined it upon the farther side we could see the red, jutting
pinnacles which marked the site of the rich landowner's dwelling.
On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods grew very thick, and there
was a narrow belt of sodden grass twenty paces across between the
edge of the trees land the reeds which lined the lake. Lestrade showed
us the exact spot at which the body had been found, and, indeed, so
moist was the ground, that I could plainly see the traces which had
been left by the fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see
by his eager face and peering eyes, very many other things were to
be read upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking
up a scent, and then turned upon my companion.

{}``What did you go into the pool for?''\ he asked.

{}``I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon
or other trace. But how on earth\mdsh{---}''

{}``Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its
inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and there
it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all have been
had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo and wallowed
all over it. Here is where the party with the lodge-keeper came, and
they have covered all tracks for six or eight feet round the body.
But here are three separate tracks of the same feet.'' He drew out
a lens and lay down upon his waterproof to have a better view, talking
all the time rather to himself than to us. {}``These are young McCarthy's
feet. Twice he was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles
are deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his
story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are
the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It
is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Ha,
ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite unusual
boots! They come, they go, they come again\mdsh{---}of course that
was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?'' He ran up and
down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we were
well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a great beech,
the largest tree in the neighborhood. Holmes traced his way to the
farther side of this and lay down once more upon his face with a little
cry of satisfaction. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small For a long time he remained there.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
For a long time he remained there, turning over the leaves and dried
sticks, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope
and examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark
of the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among
the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then he
followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the highroad,
where all traces were lost.

{}``It has been a case of considerable interest,'' he remarked,
returning to his natural manner. {}``I fancy that this gray house
on the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have
a word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done that,
we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, and I
shall be with you presently.''

It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove back
into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he had picked
up in the wood.

{}``This may interest you, Lestrade,'' he remarked, holding it out.
{}``The murder was done with it.''

{}``I see no marks.''

{}``There are none.''

{}``How do you know, then?''

{}``The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few
days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It corresponds
with the injuries. There is no sign of any other weapon.''

{}``And the murderer?''

{}``Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears thick-soled
shooting-boots and a gray cloak, smokes Indian cigars, uses a cigar-holder,
and carries a blunt pen-knife in his pocket. There are several other
indications, but these may be enough to aid us in our search.''

Lestrade laughed. {}``I am afraid that I am still a sceptic,'' he
said. {}``Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a
hard-headed British jury.''

{}``\emph{Nous verrons},'' answered Holmes calmly. {}``You work
your own method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon,
and shall probably return to London by the evening train.''

{}``And leave your case unfinished?''

{}``No, finished.''

{}``But the mystery?''

{}``It is solved.''

{}``Who was the criminal, then?''

{}``The gentleman I describe.''

{}``But who is he?''

{}``Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such
a populous neighborhood.''

Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. {}``I am a practical man,'' he
said, {}``and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking
for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the laughing-stock
of Scotland Yard.''

{}``All right,'' said Holmes quietly. {}``I have given you the
chance. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line
before I leave.''

Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where we
found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in thought
with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds himself in
a perplexing position.

{}``Look here, Watson,'' he said when the cloth was cleared {}``just
sit down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't
know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a cigar
and let me expound.''

{}``Pray do so.''

{}``Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about
young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, although
they impressed me in his favor and you against him. One was the fact
that his father should, according to his account, cry `Cooee!'\ before
seeing him. The other was his singular dying reference to a rat. He
mumbled several words, you understand, but that was all that caught
the son's ear. Now from this double point our research must commence,
and we will begin it by presuming that what the lad says is absolutely
true.''

{}``What of this `Cooee!'\ then?''

{}``Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The
son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that he
was within earshot. The `Cooee!'\ was meant to attract the attention
of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But `Cooee' is
a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used between Australians.
There is a strong presumption that the person whom McCarthy expected
to meet him at Boscombe Pool was someone who had been in Australia.''

{}``What of the rat, then?''

Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened
it out on the table. {}``This is a map of the Colony of Victoria,''
he said. {}``I wired to Bristol for it last night.'' He put his
hand over part of the map. {}``What do you read?''

{}``\textit{Arat},'' I read.

{}``And now?'' He raised his hand.

{}``\textit{Ballarat}.''

{}``Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his
son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter the
name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat.''

{}``It is wonderful!'' I exclaimed.

{}``It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down
considerably. The possession of a gray garment was a third point which,
granting the son's statement to be correct, was a certainty. We have
come now out of mere vagueness to the definite conception of an Australian
from Ballarat with a gray cloak.''

{}``Certainly.''

{}``And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only
be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could
hardly wander.''

{}``Quite so.''

{}``Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the
ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that imbecile
Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal.''

{}``But how did you gain them?''

{}``You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of trifles.''

{}``His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length
of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces.''

{}``Yes, they were peculiar boots.''

{}``But his lameness?''

{}``The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than
his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped\mdsh{---}he
was lame.''

{}``But his left-handedness.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-bosc-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He had stood behind that tree.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded
by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from immediately
behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can that be unless
it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind that tree during
the interview between the father and son. He had even smoked there.
I found the ash of a cigar, which my special knowledge of tobacco
ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian cigar. I have, as you know,
devoted some attention to this, and written a little monograph on
the ashes of 140 different varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette
tobacco. Having found the ash, I then looked round and discovered
the stump among the moss where he had tossed it. It was an Indian
cigar, of the variety which are rolled in Rotterdam.''

{}``And the cigar-holder?''

{}``I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore
he used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the
cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife.''

{}``Holmes,'' I said, {}``you have drawn a net round this man from
which he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life
as truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the
direction in which all this points. The culprit is\mdsh{---}''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-bosc-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Mr.\ John Turner,'' said
the waiter.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Mr.\ John Turner,'' cried the hotel waiter, opening the door
of our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor.

The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His slow,
limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of decrepitude,
and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and his enormous limbs
showed that he was possessed of unusual strength of body and of character.
His tangled beard, grizzled hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows
combined to give an air of dignity and power to his appearance, but
his face was of an ashen white, while his lips and the corners of
his nostrils were tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me
at a glance that he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease.

{}``Pray sit down on the sofa,'' said Holmes gently. {}``You had
my note?''

{}``Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished
to see me here to avoid scandal.''

{}``I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall.''

{}``And why did you wish to see me?'' He looked across at my companion
with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question was already
answered.

{}``Yes,'' said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words.
{}``It is so. I know all about McCarthy.''

The old man sank his face in his hands. {}``God help me!''\ he
cried. {}``But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I
give you my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him
at the Assizes.''

{}``I am glad to hear you say so,'' said Holmes gravely.

{}``I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It
would break her heart\mdsh{---}it will break her heart when she hears
that I am arrested.''

{}``It may not come to that,'' said Holmes.

{}``What?''

{}``I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter
who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. Young
McCarthy must be got off, however.''

{}``I am a dying man,'' said old Turner. {}``I have had diabetes
for years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a
month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a jail.''

Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand and
a bundle of paper before him. {}``Just tell us the truth,'' he said.
{}``I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson here
can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the last extremity
to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall not use it unless
it is absolutely needed.''

{}``It's as well,'' said the old man; {}``it's a question whether
I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I should
wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the thing clear
to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but will not take me
long to tell.

{}``You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil incarnate.
I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of such a man as
he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, and he has blasted
my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be in his power.

{}``It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap
then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at anything;
I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck with my claim,
took to the bush, and in a word became what you would call over here
a highway robber. There were six of us, and we had a wild, free life
of it, sticking up a station from time to time, or stopping the wagons
on the road to the diggings. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I
went under, and our party is still remembered in the colony as the
Ballarat Gang.

{}``One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and
we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers and
six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of their saddles
at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, however, before
we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the wagon-driver,
who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Lord that I had shot
him then, but I spared him, though I saw his wicked little eyes fixed
on my face, as though to remember every feature. We got away with
the gold, became wealthy men, and made our way over to England without
being suspected. There I parted from my old pals and determined to
settle down to a quiet and respectable life. I bought this estate,
which chanced to be in the market, and I set myself to do a little
good with my money, to make up for the way in which I had earned it.
I married, too, and though my wife died young she left me my dear
little Alice. Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to
lead me down the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word,
I turned over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past.
All was going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me.

{}``I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in Regent
Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his foot.

{}```Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; `we'll
be as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and
you can have the keeping of us. If you don't\mdsh{---}it's a fine,
law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman within
hail.'

{}``Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking
them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land ever
since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; turn
where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my elbow. It
grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more afraid of
her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he wanted he must
have, and whatever it was I gave him without question, land, money,
houses, until at last he asked a thing which I could not give. He
asked for Alice.

{}``His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I
was known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that
his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was firm.
I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that I had
any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that was enough.
I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do his worst. We
were to meet at the pool midway between our houses to talk it over.

{}``When we went down there I found him talking with his son, so
smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone.
But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in me
seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my daughter
with as little regard for what she might think as if she were a slut
from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I and all that
I held most dear should be in the power of such a man as this. Could
I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and a desperate man. Though
clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, I knew that my own fate was
sealed. But my memory and my girl! Both could be saved if I could
but silence that foul tongue. I did it, Mr.\ Holmes. I would do it
again. Deeply as I have sinned, I have led a life of martyrdom to
atone for it. But that my girl should be entangled in the same meshes
which held me was more than I could suffer. I struck him down with
no more compunction than if he had been some foul and venomous beast.
His cry brought back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood,
though I was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped
in my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that occurred.''

{}``Well, it is not for me to judge you,'' said Holmes as the old
man signed the statement which had been drawn out. {}``I pray that
we may never be exposed to such a temptation.''

{}``I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?''

{}``In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that
you will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than
the Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is condemned
I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be seen by mortal
eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or dead, shall be safe
with us.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bosc-10.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Farewell, then,'' said
the old man.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Farewell, then,'' said the old man solemnly. {}``Your own deathbeds,
when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which
you have given to mine.'' Tottering and shaking in all his giant
frame, he stumbled slowly from the room.

{}``God help us!'' said Holmes after a long silence. {}``Why does
fate play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such
a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, `There,
but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'''

James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a number
of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and submitted to
the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven months after our
interview, but he is now dead; and there is every prospect that the
son and daughter may come to live happily together in ignorance of
the black cloud which rests upon their past.


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS}

When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes cases
between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which present
strange and interesting features that it is no easy matter to know
which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, have already gained
publicity through the papers, and others have not offered a field
for those peculiar qualities which my friend possessed in so high
a degree, and which it is the object of these papers to illustrate.
Some, too, have baffled his analytical skill, and would be, as narratives,
beginnings without an ending, while others have been but partially
cleared up, and have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture
and surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear
to him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable
in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted to
give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are points
in connection with it which never have been, and probably never will
be, entirely cleared up.

The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater or
less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my headings under
this one twelve months I find an account of the adventure of the Paradol
Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Society, who held a luxurious club
in the lower vault of a furniture warehouse, of the facts connected
with the loss of the British bark \emph{Sophy Anderson}, of the singular
adventures of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally
of the Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered,
Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to prove
that it had been wound up two hours before, and that therefore the
deceased had gone to bed within that time\mdsh{---}a deduction which
was of the greatest importance in clearing up the case. All these
I may sketch out at some future date, but none of them present such
singular features as the strange train of circumstances which I have
now taken up my pen to describe.

It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales
had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had screamed
and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that even here in
the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced to raise our minds
for the instant from the routine of life and to recognize the presence
of those great elemental forces which shriek at mankind through the
bars of his civilization, like untamed beasts in a cage. As evening
drew in, the storm grew higher and louder, and the wind cried and
sobbed like a child in the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at
one side of the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while
I at the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories
until the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text,
and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of
the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a few
days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker Street.

{}``Why,'' said I, glancing up at my companion, {}``that was surely
the bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?''

{}``Except yourself I have none,'' he answered. {}``I do not encourage
visitors.''

{}``A client, then?''

{}``If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out
on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more likely
to be some crony of the landlady's.''

Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there came
a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He stretched out
his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and towards the vacant
chair upon which a newcomer must sit.

{}``Come in!'' said he.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-five-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He looked about him anxiously.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the outside,
well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of refinement and delicacy
in his bearing. The streaming umbrella which he held in his hand,
and his long shining waterproof told of the fierce weather through
which he had come. He looked about him anxiously in the glare of the
lamp, and I could see that his face was pale and his eyes heavy, like
those of a man who is weighed down with some great anxiety.

{}``I owe you an apology,'' he said, raising his golden \emph{pince-nez}
to his eyes. {}``I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have
brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug chamber.''

{}``Give me your coat and umbrella,'' said Holmes. {}``They may
rest here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up
from the south-west, I see.''

{}``Yes, from Horsham.''

{}``That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is
quite distinctive.''

{}``I have come for advice.''

{}``That is easily got.''

{}``And help.''

{}``That is not always so easy.''

{}``I have heard of you, Mr.\ Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast
how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal.''

{}``Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards.''

{}``He said that you could solve anything.''

{}``He said too much.''

{}``That you are never beaten.''

{}``I have been beaten four times\mdsh{---}three times by men, and
once by a woman.''

{}``But what is that compared with the number of your successes?''

{}``It is true that I have been generally successful.''

{}``Then you may be so with me.''

{}``I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favor
me with some details as to your case.''

{}``It is no ordinary one.''

{}``None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of appeal.''

{}``And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you
have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of
events than those which have happened in my own family.''

{}``You fill me with interest,'' said Holmes. {}``Pray give us
the essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards question
you as to those details which seem to me to be most important.''

The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out towards
the blaze.

{}``My name,'' said he, {}``is John Openshaw, but my own affairs
have, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful business.
It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an idea of the
facts, I must go back to the commencement of the affair.

{}``You must know that my grandfather had two sons\mdsh{---}my uncle
Elias and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry,
which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He was
a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business met
with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire upon a
handsome competence.

{}``My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and
became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done very
well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and afterwards
under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When Lee laid down his
arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three
or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came back to Europe and took
a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. He had made a very considerable
fortune in the States, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion
to the negroes, and his dislike of the Republican policy in extending
the franchise to them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered,
very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring disposition.
During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I doubt if ever he
set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or three fields round
his house, and there he would take his exercise, though very often
for weeks on end he would never leave his room. He drank a great deal
of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and
did not want any friends, not even his own brother.

{}``He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the
time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This
would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years in
England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he was very
kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be fond of playing
backgammon and draughts with me, and he would make me his representative
both with the servants and with the tradespeople, so that by the time
that I was sixteen I was quite master of the house. I kept all the
keys and could go where I liked and do what I liked, so long as I
did not disturb him in his privacy. There was one singular exception,
however, for he had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics,
which was invariably locked, and which he would never permit either
me or anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped through
the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a collection
of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such a room.

{}``One day\mdsh{---}it was in March, 1883\mdsh{---}a letter with
a foreign stamp lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate.
It was not a common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills
were all paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. `From
India!' said he as he took it up, `Pondicherry postmark! What can
this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little dried
orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to laugh
at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight of his
face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his skin the color
of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he still held in his
trembling hand, `K.K.K.!' he shrieked, and then, `My God, my God,
my sins have overtaken me!'

{}```What is it, uncle?' I cried.

{}```Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his
room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope and
saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the gum, the
letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else save the five
dried pips. What could be the reason of his overpowering terror? I
left the breakfast-table, and as I ascended the stair I met him coming
down with an old rusty key, which must have belonged to the attic,
in one hand, and a small brass box, like a cashbox, in the other.

{}```They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,'
said he with an oath. `Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my room
to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.'

{}``I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked
to step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the
grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned paper,
while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I glanced at
the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was printed the
treble K which I had read in the morning upon the envelope.

{}```I wish you, John,' said my uncle, `to witness my will. I leave
my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to my
brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to you. If
you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you cannot,
take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest enemy. I am
sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't say what turn
things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper where Mr.\ Fordham
shows you.'

{}``I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with
him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest impression
upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every way in my mind
without being able to make anything of it. Yet I could not shake off
the vague feeling of dread which it left behind, though the sensation
grew less keen as the weeks passed and nothing happened to disturb
the usual routine of our lives. I could see a change in my uncle,
however. He drank more than ever, and he was less inclined for any
sort of society. Most of his time he would spend in his room, with
the door locked upon the inside, but sometimes he would emerge in
a sort of drunken frenzy and would burst out of the house and tear
about the garden with a revolver in his hand, screaming out that he
was afraid of no man, and that he was not to be cooped up, like a
sheep in a pen, by man or devil. When these hot fits were over however,
he would rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind
him, like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror
which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen his
face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it were
new raised from a basin.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-five-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small We found him face downward in
a little green-scummed pool.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr.\ Holmes, and not
to abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those
drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when
we went to search for him, face downward in a little green-scummed
pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There was no sign of any
violence, and the water was but two feet deep, so that the jury, having
regard to his known eccentricity, brought in a verdict of `suicide.'
But I, who knew how he winced from the very thought of death, had
much ado to persuade myself that he had gone out of his way to meet
it. The matter passed, however, and my father entered into possession
of the estate, and of some \pounds{}14,000, which lay to his credit
at the bank.''

{}``One moment,'' Holmes interposed, {}``your statement is, I foresee,
one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me have
the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and the date
of his supposed suicide.''

{}``The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks
later, upon the night of May 2d.''

{}``Thank you. Pray proceed.''

{}``When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my request,
made a careful examination of the attic, which had been always locked
up. We found the brass box there, although its contents had been destroyed.
On the inside of the cover was a paper label, with the initials of
K.K.K.\ repeated upon it, and `Letters, memoranda, receipts, and
a register' written beneath. These, we presume, indicated the nature
of the papers which had been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the
rest, there was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great
many scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life
in America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had
done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Others
were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern states, and
were mostly concerned with politics, for he had evidently taken a
strong part in opposing the carpet-bag politicians who had been sent
down from the North.

{}``Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live
at Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the January
of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my father give
a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the breakfast-table.
There he was, sitting with a newly opened envelope in one hand and
five dried orange pips in the outstretched palm of the other one.
He had always laughed at what he called my cock-and-bull story about
the colonel, but he looked very scared and puzzled now that the same
thing had come upon himself.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-five-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``What on earth does this
mean?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered.

{}``My heart had turned to lead. `It is K.K.K.,' said I.

{}``He looked inside the envelope. `So it is,' he cried. `Here are
the very letters. But what is this written above them?'

{}```Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his shoulder.

{}```What papers? What sundial?' he asked.

{}```The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; `but
the papers must be those that are destroyed.'

{}```Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. `We are in a civilized
land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Where does the
thing come from?'

{}```From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark.

{}```Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. `What have I to
do with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such nonsense.'

{}```I should certainly speak to the police,' I said.

{}```And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.'

{}```Then let me do so?'

{}```No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such nonsense.'

{}``It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate
man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of forebodings.

{}``On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went
from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is in
command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad that he
should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from danger when
he was away from home. In that, however, I was in error. Upon the
second day of his absence I received a telegram from the major, imploring
me to come at once. My father had fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits
which abound in the neighborhood, and was lying senseless, with a
shattered skull. I hurried to him, but he passed away without having
ever recovered his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning
from Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him,
and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in bringing
in a verdict of `death from accidental causes.' Carefully as I examined
every fact connected with his death, I was unable to find anything
which could suggest the idea of murder. There were no signs of violence,
no footmarks, no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen
upon the roads. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from
at ease, and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had
been woven round him.

{}``In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask
me why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well convinced
that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an incident in my
uncle's life, and that the danger would be as pressing in one house
as in another.

{}``It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and
two years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time
I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that this
curse had passed way from the family, and that it had ended with the
last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, however; yesterday
morning the blow fell in the very shape in which it had come upon
my father.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-five-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He shook out five little dried
orange pips.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and turning
to the table he shook out upon it five little dried orange pips.

{}``This is the envelope,'' he continued. {}``The postmark is London\mdsh{---}eastern
division. Within are the very words which were upon my father's last
message: `K.K.K.'; and then `Put the papers on the sundial.'''

{}``What have you done?'' asked Holmes.

{}``Nothing.''

{}``Nothing?''

{}``To tell the truth''---he sank his face into his thin, white
hands\mdsh{---}``I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those
poor rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in
the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight
and no precautions can guard against.''

{}``Tut!\ tut!'' cried Sherlock Holmes. {}``You must act, man,
or you are lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time
for despair.''

{}``I have seen the police.''

{}``Ah!''

{}``But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that
the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all practical
jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really accidents,
as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with the warnings.''

Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. {}``Incredible imbecility!''
he cried.

{}``They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in
the house with me.''

{}``Has he come with you to-night?''

{}``No. His orders were to stay in the house.''

Again Holmes raved in the air.

{}``Why did you come to me,'' he cried, {}``and, above all, why
did you not come at once?''

{}``I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Prendergast
about my troubles and was advised by him to come to you.''

{}``It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have
acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than that
which you have placed before us\mdsh{---}no suggestive detail which
might help us?''

{}``There is one thing,'' said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his
coat pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discolored, blue-tinted paper,
he laid it out upon the table. {}``I have some remembrance,'' said
he, {}``that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I observed
that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the ashes were of
this particular color. I found this single sheet upon the floor of
his room, and I am inclined to think that it may be one of the papers
which has, perhaps, fluttered out from among the others, and in that
way has escaped destruction. Beyond the mention of pips, I do not
see that it helps us much. I think myself that it is a page from some
private diary. The writing is undoubtedly my uncle's.''

Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, which
showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from a book.
It was headed, {}``March, 1869,'' and beneath were the following
enigmatical notices:

\begin{lyxlist}{00.00.0000}
\item [4th.]Hudson came. Same old platform.
\item [7th.]Set the pips on McCauley, Par\-a\-m\-ore, and John Swain,
of St. Augustine.
\item [9th.]McCauley cleared.
\item [10th.]John Swain cleared.
\item [12th.]Visited Paramore. All well.
\end{lyxlist}
{}``Thank you!''\ said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning
it to our visitor. {}``And now you must on no account lose another
instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told me.
You must get home instantly and act.''

{}``What shall I do?''

{}``There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must
put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass box
which you have described. You must also put in a note to say that
all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that this is the
only one which remains. You must assert that in such words as will
carry conviction with them. Having done this, you must at once put
the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do you understand?''

{}``Entirely.''

{}``Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present.
I think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our
web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first consideration
is to remove the pressing danger which threatens you. The second is
to clear up the mystery and to punish the guilty parties.''

{}``I thank you,'' said the young man, rising and pulling on his
overcoat. {}``You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall certainly
do as you advise.''

{}``Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself
in the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that
you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you
go back?

{}``By train from Waterloo.''

{}``It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that
you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too closely.''

{}``I am armed.''

{}``That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case.''

{}``I shall see you at Horsham, then?''

{}``No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek
it.''

{}``Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news
as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every particular.''
He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside the wind still
screamed and the rain splashed and pattered against the windows. This
strange, wild story seemed to have come to us from amid the mad elements\mdsh{--}--blown
in upon us like a sheet of sea-weed in a gale\mdsh{---}and now to
have been reabsorbed by them once more.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-five-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small His eyes bent upon the red glow
of the fire.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk forward
and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he lit his pipe,
and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue smoke-rings as they
chased each other up to the ceiling.

{}``I think, Watson,'' he remarked at last, {}``that of all our
cases we have had none more fantastic than this.''

{}``Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four.''

{}``Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems
to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the Sholtos.''

{}``But have you,'' I asked, {}``formed any definite conception
as to what these perils are?''

{}``There can be no question as to their nature,'' he answered.

{}``Then what are they? Who is this K.K.K., and why does he pursue
this unhappy family?''

Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the arms
of his chair, with his finger-tips together. {}``The ideal reasoner,''
he remarked, {}``would, when he had once been shown a single fact
in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the chain of events
which led up to it but also all the results which would follow from
it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole animal by the contemplation
of a single bone, so the observer who has thoroughly understood one
link in a series of incidents should be able to accurately state all
the other ones, both before and after. We have not yet grasped the
results which the reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved
in the study which have baffled all those who have sought a solution
by the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest
pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to utilize
all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this in itself
implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all knowledge, which,
even in these days of free education and encyclop\ae dias, is a somewhat
rare accomplishment. It is not so impossible, however, that a man
should possess all knowledge which is likely to be useful to him in
his work, and this I have endeavored in my case to do. If I remember
rightly, you on one occasion, in the early days of our friendship,
defined my limits in a very precise fashion.''

{}``Yes,'' I answered, laughing. {}``It was a singular document.
Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I remember.
Botany variable, geology profound as regards the mud-stains from any
region within fifty miles of town, chemistry eccentric, anatomy unsystematic,
sensational literature and crime records unique, violin-player, boxer,
swordsman, lawyer, and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those,
I think, were the main points of my analysis.''

Holmes grinned at the last item. {}``Well,'' he said, {}``I say
now, as I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic
stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the rest
he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he can get
it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which has been
submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster all our resources.
Kindly hand me down the letter K of the American Encyclop\ae dia
which stands upon the shelf beside you. Thank you. Now let us consider
the situation and see what may be deduced from it. In the first place,
we may start with a strong presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some
very strong reason for leaving America. Men at his time of life do
not change all their habits and exchange willingly the charming climate
of Florida for the lonely life of an English provincial town. His
extreme love of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was
in fear of someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis
that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from America.
As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by considering
the formidable letters which were received by himself and his successors.
Did you remark the postmarks of those letters?''

{}``The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the
third from London.''

{}``From East London. What do you deduce from that?''

{}``They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship.''

{}``Excellent. We have already a clew. There can be no doubt that
the probability\mdsh{---}the strong probability\mdsh{---}is that
the writer was on board of a ship. And now let us consider another
point. In the case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the
threat and its fulfillment, in Dundee it was only some three or four
days. Does that suggest anything?''

{}``A greater distance to travel.''

{}``But the letter had also a greater distance to come.''

{}``Then I do not see the point.''

{}``There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the
man or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send
their singular warning or token before them when starting upon their
mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign when it came
from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a steamer they would
have arrived almost as soon as their letter. But, as a matter of fact,
seven weeks elapsed. I think that those seven weeks represented the
difference between the mailboat which brought the letter and the sailing
vessel which brought the writer.''

{}``It is possible.''

{}``More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly urgency
of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to caution. The blow
has always fallen at the end of the time which it would take the senders
to travel the distance. But this one comes from London, and therefore
we cannot count upon delay.''

{}``Good God!''\ I cried. {}``What can it mean, this relentless
persecution?''

{}``The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital importance
to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think that it is quite
clear that there must be more than one of them. A single man could
not have carried out two deaths in such a way as to deceive a coroner's
jury. There must have been several in it, and they must have been
men of resource and determination. Their papers they mean to have,
be the holder of them who it may. In this way you see K.K.K.ceases
to be the initials of an individual and becomes the badge of a society.''

{}``But of what society?''

{}``Have you never\mdsh{---}'' said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward
and sinking his voice\mdsh{---}``have you never heard of the Ku Klux
Klan?''

{}``I never have.''

Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. {}``Here
it is,'' said he presently:

\begin{quote}
{}``\noun{Ku Klux Klan}. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance
to the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret society
was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Southern states
after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local branches in different
parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Louisiana, the Carolinas,
Georgia, and Florida. Its power was used for political purposes, principally
for the terrorizing of the negro voters and the murdering and driving
from the country of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages
were usually preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some
fantastic but generally recognized shape\mdsh{---}a sprig of oak-leaves
in some parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving
this the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might
fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would unfailingly
come upon him, and usually in some strange and unforeseen manner.
So perfect was the organization of the society, and so systematic
its methods, that there is hardly a case upon record where any man
succeeded in braving it with impunity, or in which any of its outrages
were traced home to the perpetrators. For some years the organization
flourished in spite of the efforts of the United States government
and of the better classes of the community in the South. Eventually,
in the year 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although
there have been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.
\end{quote}
{}``You will observe,'' said Holmes, laying down the volume, {}``that
the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the disappearance
of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may well have been
cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his family have some
of the more implacable spirits upon their track. You can understand
that this register and diary may implicate some of the first men in
the South, and that there may be many who will not sleep easy at night
until it is recovered.''

{}``Then the page we have seen\mdsh{---}''

{}``Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, `sent
the pips to A, B, and C'\mdsh{---}that is, sent the society's warning
to them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or
left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a
sinister result for C.\ Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let some
light into this dark place, and I believe that the only chance young
Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have told him. There
is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over
my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable
weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow-men.''

It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a subdued
brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the great city. Sherlock
Holmes was already at breakfast when I came down.

{}``You will excuse me for not waiting for you,'' said he; {}``I
have, I foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case
of young Openshaw's.''

{}``What steps will you take?'' I asked.

{}``It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries.
I may have to go down to Horsham, after all.''

{}``You will not go there first?''

{}``No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the
maid will bring up your coffee.''

As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and glanced
my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a chill to my
heart.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-five-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Holmes,'' I cried, {}``you
are too late.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Holmes,'' I cried, {}``you are too late.''

{}``Ah!''\ said he, laying down his cup, {}``I feared as much.
How was it done?'' He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply
moved.

{}``My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading `Tragedy
Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account:

\begin{quote}
{}``Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the
H Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and
a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and
stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it was
quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was given,
and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was eventually recovered.
It proved to be that of a young gentleman whose name, as it appears
from an envelope which was found in his pocket, was John Openshaw,
and whose residence is near Horsham. It is conjectured that he may
have been hurrying down to catch the last train from Waterloo Station,
and that in his haste and the extreme darkness he missed his path
and walked over the edge of one of the small landing-places for river
steamboats. The body exhibited no traces of violence, and there can
be no doubt that the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate
accident, which should have the effect of calling the attention of
the authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages.''
\end{quote}
We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and shaken
than I had ever seen him.

{}``That hurts my pride, Watson,'' he said at last. {}``It is a
petty feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal
matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my hand
upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that I should
send him away to his death\mdsh{---}!'' He sprang from his chair
and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a flush
upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and unclasping of his
long thin hands.

{}``They must be cunning devils,'' he exclaimed at last. {}``How
could they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the
direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too crowded,
even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, we shall see
who will win in the long run. I am going out now!''

{}``To the police?''

{}``No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may
take the flies, but not before.''

All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in
the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes had
not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he entered, looking
pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and tearing a piece
from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, washing it down with a long
draught of water.

{}``You are hungry,'' I remarked.

{}``Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since
breakfast.''

{}``Nothing?''

{}``Not a bite. I had no time to think of it.''

{}``And how have you succeeded?''

{}``Well.''

{}``You have a clew?''

{}``I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not
long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish
trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!''

{}``What do you mean?''

He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he squeezed
out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and thrust them
into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote {}``S. H.\ for
J.\ 0.'' Then he sealed it and addressed it to {}``Captain James
Calhoun, Bark \emph{Lone Star}, Savannah, Georgia.''

{}``That will await him when he enters port,'' said he, chuckling.
{}``It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a
precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him.''

{}``And who is this Captain Calhoun?''

{}``The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first.''

{}``How did you trace it, then?''

He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with dates
and names.

{}``I have spent the whole day,'' said he, {}``over Lloyd's registers
and files of the old papers, following the future career of every
vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in '83.
There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were reported there
during those months. Of these, one, the \emph{Lone Star}, instantly
attracted my attention, since, although it was reported as having
cleared from London, the name is that which is given to one of the
states of the Union.''

{}``Texas, I think.''

{}``I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must
have an American origin.''

{}``What then?''

{}``I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the bark
\emph{Lone Star} was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a
certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present
in the port of London.''

{}``Yes?''

{}``The \emph{Lone Star} had arrived here last week. I went down
to the Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river
by the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired
to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and as
the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Goodwins
and not very far from the Isle of Wight.''

{}``What will you do, then?''

{}``Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I learn,
the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are Finns and
Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away from the ship
last night. I had it from the stevedore who has been loading their
cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship reaches Savannah the mail-boat
will have carried this letter, and the cable will have informed the
police of Savannah that these three gentlemen are badly wanted here
upon a charge of murder.''

There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, and
the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the orange pips
which would show them that another, as cunning and as resolute as
themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very severe were the
equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for news of the \emph{Lone
Star} of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We did at last hear that
somewhere far out in the Atlantic a shattered stern-post of the boat
was seen swinging in the trough of a wave, with the letters {}``L.
S.'' carved upon it, and that is all which we shall ever know of
the fate of the \emph{Lone Star}.


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED
LIP}

Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal of
the Theological College of St.\ George's, was much addicted to opium.
The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some foolish freak
when he was at college; for having read De Quincey's description of
his dreams and sensations, he had drenched his tobacco with laudanum
in an attempt to produce the same effects. He found, as so many more
have done, that the practice is easier to attain than to get rid of,
and for many years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object
of mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see
him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point pupils,
all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble man.

One night\mdsh{---}it was in June, '89\mdsh{---}there came a ring
to my bell, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances
at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work
down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment.

{}``A patient!''\ said she. {}``You'll have to go out.''

I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day.

We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps
upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in some
dark-colored stuff, with a black veil, entered the room.

{}``You will excuse my calling so late,'' she began, and then, suddenly
losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms about my
wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. {}``Oh, I'm in such trouble!''
she cried; {}``I do so want a little help.''

{}``Why,'' said my wife, pulling up her veil, {}``it is Kate Whitney.
How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when you
came in.''

{}``I didn't know what to do, so l came straight to you.'' That
was always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds
to a light-house.

{}``It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine
and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should
you rather that I sent James off to bed?''

{}``Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about
Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him!''

It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her husband's
trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend and school
companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words as we could
find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it possible that we
could bring him back to her?

It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late
he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the farthest
east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been confined to
one day, and he had come back, twitching and shattered, in the evening.
But now the spell had been upon him eight-and-forty hours, and he
lay there, doubtless among the dregs of the docks, breathing in the
poison or sleeping off the effects. There he was to be found, she
was sure of it, at the Bar of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what
was she to do? How could she, a young and timid woman, make her way
into such a place and pluck her husband out from among the ruffians
who surrounded him?

There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of it.
Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second thought,
why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical adviser, and
as such I had influence over him. I could manage it better if I were
alone. I promised her on my word that I would send him home in a cab
within two hours if he were indeed at the address which she had given
me. And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room
behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a strange errand,
as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show
how strange it was to be.

But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my adventure.
Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the high wharves
which line the north side of the river to the east of London Bridge.
Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached by a steep flight of
steps leading down to a black gap like the mouth of a cave, I found
the den of which I was in search. Ordering my cab to wait, I passed
down the steps, worn hollow in the centre by the ceaseless tread of
drunken feet; and by the light of a flickering oil-lamp above the
door I found the latch and made my way into a long, low room, thick
and heavy with the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths,
like the forecastle of an emigrant ship.

Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying
in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads thrown
back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a dark, lack-lustre
eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black shadows there glimmered
little red circles of light, now bright, now faint, as the burning
poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the metal pipes. The most lay
silent, but some muttered to themselves, and others talked together
in a strange, low, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in
gushes, and then suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling
out his own thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbor.
%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Staring into the fire.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
At the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside
which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old man,
with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon his knees,
staring into the fire.

As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe
for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth.

{}``Thank you. I have not come to stay,'' said I. {}``There is
a friend of mine here, Mr.\ Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with
him.''

There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and peering
through the gloom I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and unkempt, staring
out at me.

{}``My God! It's Watson,'' said he. He was in a pitiable state of
reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. {}``I say, Watson, what
o'clock is it?''

{}``Nearly eleven.''

{}``Of what day?''

{}``Of Friday, June 19th.''

{}``Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What
d'you want to frighten the chap for?'' He sank his face onto his
arms and began to sob in a high treble key.

{}``I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting
this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!''

{}``So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here
a few hours, three pipes, four pipes\mdsh{---}I forget how many.
But I'll go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate\mdsh{---}poor
little Kate. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?''

{}``Yes, I have one waiting.''

{}``Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I
owe, Watson. I am all off color. I can do nothing for myself.''

I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of sleepers,
holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying fumes of the drug,
and looking about for the manager. As I passed the tall man who sat
by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my skirt, and a low voice
whispered, {}``Walk past me, and then look back at me.'' The words
fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I glanced down. They could only
have come from the old man at my side, and yet he sat now as absorbed
as ever, very thin, very wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling
down from between his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude
from his fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took
all my self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of
astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him but
I.\ His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull eyes
had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and grinning
at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He made a slight
motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he turned his face
half round to the company once more, subsided into a doddering, loose-lipped
senility.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Holmes!'' I whispered.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Holmes!'' I whispered, {}``what on earth are you doing in this
den?''

{}``As low as you can,'' he answered; {}``I have excellent ears.
If you would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend
of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with you.''

{}``I have a cab outside.''

{}``Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for
he appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should recommend
you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to say that you
have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait outside, I shall
be with you in five minutes.''

It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes's requests, for
they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with such
a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney was once
confined in the cab my mission was practically accomplished; and for
the rest, I could not wish anything better than to be associated with
my friend in one of those singular adventures which were the normal
condition of his existence. In a few minutes I had written my note,
paid Whitney's bill, led him out to the cab, and seen him driven through
the darkness. In a very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from
the opium den, and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes.
For two streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain
foot. Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and
burst into a hearty fit of laughter.

{}``I suppose, Watson,'' said he, {}``that you imagine that I have
added opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little
weaknesses on which you have favored me with your medical views.''

{}``I was certainly surprised to find you there.''

{}``But not more so than I to find you.''

{}``I came to find a friend.''

{}``And I to find an enemy.''

{}``An enemy?''

{}``Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural prey.
Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable inquiry, and
I have hoped to find a clew in the incoherent ramblings of these sots,
as I have done before now. Had I been recognized in that den my life
would not have been worth an hour's purchase; for I have used it before
now for my own purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn
to have vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that
building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some strange
tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless nights.''

{}``What! You do not mean bodies?''

{}``Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had \pounds{}1000
for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It is
the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that Neville
St.\ Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our trap should
be here.'' He put his two forefingers between his teeth and whistled
shrilly\mdsh{---}a signal which was answered by a similar whistle
from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle of wheels and the
clink of horses' hoofs.

{}``Now, Watson,'' said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through
the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from its
side lanterns. {}``You'll come with me, won't you?

{}``If I can be of use.''

{}``Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still
more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one.''

{}``The Cedars?''

{}``Yes; that is Mr.\ St.\ Clair's house. I am staying there while
I conduct the inquiry.''

{}``Where is it, then?''

{}``Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us.''

{}``But I am all in the dark.''

{}``Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up
here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a crown.
Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her head. So long,
then!''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He flicked the horse with his
whip.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the
endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which widened gradually,
until we were flying across a broad balustraded bridge, with the murky
river flowing sluggishly beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness
of bricks and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular
footfall of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated
party of revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky,
and a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts
of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his
breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat beside
him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which seemed to
tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in upon the current
of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and were beginning to
get to the fringe of the belt of suburban villas, when he shook himself,
shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his pipe with the air of a man
who has satisfied himself that he is acting for the best.

{}``You have a grand gift of silence, Watson,'' said he. {}``It
makes you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great
thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are not
over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear little
woman to-night when she meets me at the door.''

{}``You forget that I know nothing about it.''

{}``I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before
we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can get
nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I can't
get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case clearly and
concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a spark where all
is dark to me.''

{}``Proceed, then.''

{}``Some years ago\mdsh{---}to be definite, in May, 1884\mdsh{---}there
came to Lee a gentleman, Neville St.\ Clair by name, who appeared
to have plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds
very nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made
friends in the neighborhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter of
a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no occupation,
but was interested in several companies and went into town as a rule
in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Street every night.
Mr.\ St.\ Clair is now thirty-seven years of age, is a man of temperate
habits, a good husband, a very affectionate father, and a man who
is popular with all who know him. I may add that his whole debts at
the present moment, as far as we have been able to ascertain amount
to \pounds{}88 l0s., while he has \pounds{}220 standing to his credit
in the Capital and Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to
think that money troubles have been weighing upon his mind.

{}``Last Monday Mr.\ Neville St.\ Clair went into town rather earlier
than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important
commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy home
a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife received a telegram
upon this same Monday, very shortly after his departure, to the effect
that a small parcel of considerable value which she had been expecting
was waiting for her at the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company.
Now, if you are well up in your London, you will know that the office
of the company is in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam
Lane, where you found me to-night. Mrs.\ St.\ Clair had her lunch,
started for the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's
office, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking
through Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed
me so far?''

{}``It is very clear.''

{}``If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs.\ St.\ Clair
walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, as she
did not like the neighborhood in which she found herself. While she
was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard an ejaculation
or cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking down at her
and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a second-floor window.
The window was open, and she distinctly saw his face, which she describes
as being terribly agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her,
and then vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her
that he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind.
One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that although
he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town in, he had
on neither collar nor necktie.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-twis-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small At the foot of the stairs she
met this Lascar scoundrel.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down
the steps\mdsh{---}for the house was none other than the opium den
in which you found me to-night\mdsh{---}and running through the front
room she attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor.
At the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel
of whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who
acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled with
the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the lane and,
by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of constables
with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The inspector and
two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the continued resistance
of the proprietor, they made their way to the room in which Mr.\ St.\ Clair
had last been seen. There was no sign of him there. In fact, in the
whole of that floor there was no one to be found save a crippled wretch
of hideous aspect, who, it seems, made his home there. Both he and
the Lascar stoutly swore that no one else had been in the front room
during the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector
was staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs.\ St.\ Clair
had been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box
which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell
a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had promised
to bring home.

{}``This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple showed,
made the inspector realize that the matter was serious. The rooms
were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an abominable
crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a sitting-room and
led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon the back of one of
the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom window is a narrow
strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered at high tide with at
least four and a half feet of water. The bedroom window was a broad
one and opened from below. On examination traces of blood were to
be seen upon the windowsill, and several scattered drops were visible
upon the wooden floor of the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain
in the front room were all the clothes of Mr.\ Neville St.\ Clair,
with the exception of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and
his watch\mdsh{---}all were there. There were no signs of violence
upon any of these garments, and there were no other traces of Mr.\ Neville
St.\ Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no
other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon the
sill gave little promise that he could save himself by swimming, for
the tide was at its very highest at the moment of the tragedy.

{}``And now as to the villains who seemed to be immedlately implicated
in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the vilest antecedents,
but as, by Mrs.\ St.\ Clair's story, he was known to have been at
the foot of the stair within a very few seconds of her husband's appearance
at the window, he could hardly have been more than an accessory to
the crime. His defense was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested
that he had no knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger,
and that he could not account in any way for the presence of the missing
gentleman's clothes.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He is a professional beggar.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple
who lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was certainly
the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St.\ Clair. His
name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which is familiar
to every man who goes much to the City. He is a professional beggar,
though in order to avoid the police regulations he pretends to a small
trade in wax vestas. Some little distance down Threadneedle Street,
upon the left-hand side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small
angle in the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat,
cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he
is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the greasy
leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I have watched
the fellow more than once before ever I thought of making his professional
acquaintance, and I have been surprised at the harvest which he has
reaped in a short time. His appearance, you see, is so remarkable
that no one can pass him without observing him. A shock of orange
hair, a pale face disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction,
has turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and
a pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular contrast
to the color of his hair, all mark him out from amid the common crowd
of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he is ever ready with
a reply to any piece of chaff which may be thrown at him by the passers-by.
This is the man whom we now learn to have been the lodger at the opium
den, and to have been the last man to see the gentleman of whom we
are in quest.''

{}``But a cripple!''\ said I. {}``What could he have done single-handed
against a man in the prime of life?''

{}``He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in
other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man.
Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that weakness
in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional strength in the
others.''

{}``Pray continue your narrative.''

{}``Mrs.\ St.\ Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon
the window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her
presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Inspector
Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful examination
of the premises, but without finding anything which threw any light
upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not arresting Boone
instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes during which he might
have communicated with his friend the Lascar, but this fault was soon
remedied, and he was seized and searched, without anything being found
which could incriminate him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains
upon his right shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which
had been cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from
there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and
that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from
the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr.\ Neville
St.\ Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in his room
was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to Mrs.\ St.\ Clair's
assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the window, he
declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming. He was removed,
loudly protesting, to the police-station, while the inspector remained
upon the premises in the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some
fresh clew.

{}``And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they
had feared to find. It was Neville St.\ Clair's coat, and not Neville
St.\ Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And what do
you think they found in the pockets?''

{}``I cannot imagine.''

{}``No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with
pennies and half-pennies\mdsh{---}421 pennies and 270 half-pennies.
It was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But
a human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between
the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the weighted
coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked away into
the river.''

{}``But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the
room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?''

{}``No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose
that this man Boone had thrust Neville St.\ Clair through the window,
there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. What would he
do then? It would of course instantly strike him that he must get
rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize the coat, then, and
be in the act of throwing it out, when it would occur to him that
it would swim and not sink. He has little time, for he has heard the
scuffle downstairs when the wife tried to force her way up, and perhaps
he has already heard from his Lascar confederate that the police are
hurrying up the street. There is not an instant to be lost. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-twis-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He stuffs all the coins into
the pockets.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He rushes to some secret hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits
of his beggary, and he stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay
his hands into the pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He
throws it out, and would have done the same with the other garments
had not he heard the rush of steps below, and only just had time to
close the window when the police appeared.''

{}``It certainly sounds feasible.''

{}``Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a better.
Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the station,
but it could not be shown that there had ever before been anything
against him. He had for years been known as a professional beggar,
but his life appeared to have been a very quiet and innocent one.
There the matter stands at present, and the questions which have to
be solved\mdsh{---}what Neville St.\ Clair was doing in the opium
den, what happened to him when there, where is he now, and what Hugh
Boone had to do with his disappearance\mdsh{---}are all as far from
a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot recall any case within
my experience which looked at the first glance so simple and yet which
presented such difficulties.''

While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of events,
we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great town until
the last straggling houses had been left behind, and we rattled along
with a country hedge upon either side of us. Just as he finished,
however, we drove through two scattered villages, where a few lights
still glimmered in the windows.

{}``We are on the outskirts of Lee,'' said my companion. {}``We
have touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting
in Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent.
See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside that
lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have little doubt,
caught the clink of our horse's feet.''

{}``But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?''
I asked.

{}``Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here.
Mrs.\ St.\ Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and
you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for
my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have no
news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!''

We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its
own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and springing
down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding gravel-drive which led
to the house. As we approached, the door flew open, and a little blonde
woman stood in the opening, clad in some sort of light \emph{mousseline
de soie}, with a touch of fluffy pink chiffon at her neck and wrists.
She stood with her figure outlined against the flood of light, one
hand upon the door, one half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly
bent, her head and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips,
a standing question.

{}``Well?'' she cried, {}``well?'' And then, seeing that there
were two of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as
she saw that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.

{}``No good news?''

{}``None.''

{}``No bad?''

{}``No.''

{}``Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have
had a long day.''

{}``This is my friend, Dr.\ Watson. He has been of most vital use
to me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it possible
for me to bring him out and associate him with this investigation.''

{}``I am delighted to see you,'' said she, pressing my hand warmly.
{}``You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in
our arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so suddenly
upon us.''

{}``My dear madam,'' said I, {}``I am an old campaigner, and if
I were not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can
be of any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall
be indeed happy.''

{}``Now, Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes,'' said the lady as we entered a
well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had been
laid out, {}``I should very much like to ask you one or two plain
questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain answer.''

{}``Certainly, madam.''

{}``Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given
to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion.''

{}``Upon what point?''

{}``In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Frankly, now!'' she repeated.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. {}``Frankly,
now!'' she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking keenly down
at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair.

{}``Frankly, then, madam, I do not.''

{}``You think that he is dead?''

{}``I do.''

{}``Murdered?''

{}``I don't say that. Perhaps.''

{}``And on what day did he meet his death?''

{}``On Monday.''

{}``Then perhaps, Mr.\ Holmes, you will be good enough to explain
how it is that I have received a letter from him to-day.''

Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been galvanized.

{}``What!'' he roared.

{}``Yes, to-day.'' She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of
paper in the air.

{}``May I see it?''

{}``Certainly.''

He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out upon
the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I had left
my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The envelope was
a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend postmark and
with the date of that very day, or rather of the day before, for it
was considerably after midnight.

{}``Coarse writing,'' murmured Holmes. {}``Surely this is not your
husband's writing, madam.''

{}``No, but the enclosure is.''

{}``I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go
and inquire as to the address.''

{}``How can you tell that?''

{}``The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried
itself. The rest is of the grayish color, which shows that blotting-paper
has been used. If it had been written straight off, and then blotted,
none would be of a deep black shade. This man has written the name,
and there has then been a pause before he wrote the address, which
can only mean that he was not familiar with it. It is, of course,
a trifle, but there is nothing so important as trifles. Let us now
see the letter. Ha! there has been an enclosure here!''

{}``Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring.''

{}``And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?''

{}``One of his hands.''

{}``One?''

{}``His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual
writing, and yet I know it well.''

{}```Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a
huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. Wait in
patience.\mdsh{---}\textit{\emph{\noun{Neville}}}.' Written in
pencil upon the fly-leaf of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum!
Posted to-day in Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the
flap has been gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person
who had been chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your
husband's hand, madam?''

{}``None. Neville wrote those words.''

{}``And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs.\ St.\ Clair,
the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the danger
is over.''

{}``But he must be alive, Mr.\ Holmes.''

{}``Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent.
The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from him.'

{}``No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!''

{}``Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only
posted to-day.''

{}``That is possible.''

{}``If so, much may have happened between.''

{}``Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr.\ Holmes. I know that all
is well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I should
know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him last he
cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room rushed upstairs
instantly with the utmost certainty that something had happened. Do
you think that I would respond to such a trifle and yet be ignorant
of his death?''

{}``I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman
may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical reasoner.
And in this letter you certainly have a very strong piece of evidence
to corroborate your view. But if your husband is alive and able to
write letters, why should he remain away from you?''

{}``I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable.''

{}``And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?''

{}``No.''

{}``And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?''

{}``Very much so.''

{}``Was the window open?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``Then he might have called to you?''

{}``He might.''

{}``He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``A call for help, you thought?''

{}``Yes. He waved his hands.''

{}``But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the
unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?''

{}``It is possible.''

{}``And you thought he was pulled back?''

{}``He disappeared so suddenly.''

{}``He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the
room?''

{}``No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and
the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs.''

{}``Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his ordinary
clothes on?''

{}``But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare throat.''

{}``Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?''

{}``Never.''

{}``Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?''

{}``Never.''

{}``Thank you, Mrs.\ St.\ Clair. Those are the principal points
about which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little
supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day to-morrow.''

A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our
disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary after
my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, who, when
he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for days, and even
for a week, without rest, turning it over, rearranging his facts,
looking at it from every point of view until he had either fathomed
it or convinced himself that his data were insufficient. It was soon
evident to me that he was now preparing for an all-night sitting.
He took off his coat and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown,
and then wandered about the room collecting pillows from his bed and
cushions from the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a
sort of Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged,
with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front
of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an old
briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the corner
of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, silent, motionless,
with the light shining upon his strong-set aquiline features. So he
sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he sat when a sudden ejaculation
caused me to wake up, and I found the summer sun shining into the
apartment. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The pipe was still between his
lips.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The pipe was still between his lips, the smoke still curled upward,
and the room was full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained
of the heap of shag which I had seen upon the previous night.

{}``Awake, Watson?'' he asked.

{}``Yes.''

{}``Game for a morning drive?''

{}``Certainly.''

{}``Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stable-boy
sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out.'' He chuckled to himself
as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed a different man to the
sombre thinker of the previous night.

As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one was
stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly finished
when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was putting in the
horse.

{}``I want to test a little theory of mine,'' said he, pulling on
his boots. {}``I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the
presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve to
be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the key of
the affair now.''

{}``And where is it?'' I asked, smiling.

{}``In the bathroom,'' he answered. {}``Oh, yes, I am not joking,''
he continued, seeing my look of incredulity. {}``I have just been
there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this Gladstone
bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will not fit the
lock.''

We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into the
bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and trap, with
the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both sprang in, and
away we dashed down the London Road. A few country carts were stirring,
bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but the lines of villas on
either side were as silent and lifeless as some city in a dream.

{}``It has been in some points a singular case,'' said Holmes, flicking
the horse on into a gallop. {}``I confess that I have been as blind
as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn
it at all.''

In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily from
their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey side.
Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the river, and
dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the right and found
ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well known to the force,
and the two constables at the door saluted him. One of them held the
horse's head while the other led us in.

{}``Who is on duty?'' asked Holmes.

{}``Inspector Bradstreet, sir.''

{}``Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?'' A tall, stout official had come
down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged jacket.
{}``I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet.'' 

{}``Certainly, Mr.\ Holmes. Step into my room here.'' It was a
small, office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a
telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his
desk.

{}``What can I do for you, Mr.\ Holmes?''

{}``I called about that beggarman, Boone\mdsh{---}the one who was
charged with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr.\ Neville
St.\ Clair, of Lee.''

{}``Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries.''

{}``So I heard. You have him here?''

{}``In the cells.''

{}``Is he quiet?''

{}``Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel.''

{}``Dirty?''

{}``Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his
face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been
settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you saw
him, you would agree with me that he needed it.''

{}``I should like to see him very much.''

{}``Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave
your bag.''

{}``No, I think that I'll take it.''

{}``Very good. Come this way, if you please.'' He led us down a
passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and brought
us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each side.

{}``The third on the right is his,'' said the inspector. {}``Here
it is!'' He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door
and glanced through.

{}``He is asleep,'' said he. {}``You can see him very well.''

We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his face
towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and heavily. He
was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his calling, with
a colored shirt protruding through the rent in his tattered coat.
He was, as the inspector had said, extremely dirty, but the grime
which covered his face could not conceal its repulsive ugliness. A
broad wheal from an old scar ran right across it from eye to chin,
and by its contraction had turned up one side of the upper lip, so
that three teeth were exposed in a perpetual snarl. A shock of very
bright red hair grew low over his eyes and forehead.

{}``He's a beauty, isn't he?'' said the inspector.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-twis-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He took out a very large bath-sponge.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``He certainly needs a wash,'' remarked Holmes. {}``I had an
idea that he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with
me.'' He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my
astonishment, a very large bath-sponge.

{}``He!\ he! You are a funny one,'' chuckled the inspector.

{}``Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very
quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable figure.''

{}``Well, I don't know why not,'' said the inspector. {}``He doesn't
look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?'' He slipped his
key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The sleeper
half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep slumber.
Holmes stooped to the waterjug, moistened his sponge, and then rubbed
it twice vigorously across and down the prisoner's face.

{}``Let me introduce you,'' he shouted, {}``to Mr.\ Neville St.\ Clair,
of Lee, in the county of Kent.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-twis-10.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He broke into a scream.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled off
under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the coarse brown
tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had seamed it across, and
the twisted lip which had given the repulsive sneer to the face! A
twitch brought away the tangled red hair, and there, sitting up in
his bed, was a pale, sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired
and smooth-skinned, rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy
bewilderment. Then suddenly realizing the exposure, he broke into
a scream and threw himself down with his face to the pillow.

{}``Great heavens!'' cried the inspector, {}``it is, indeed, the
missing man. I know him from the photograph.''

The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons himself
to his destiny. {}``Be it so,'' said he. {}``And pray what am I
charged with?''

{}``With making away with Mr.\ Neville St.\mdsh{---} Oh, come,
you can't be charged with that unless they make a case of attempted
suicide of it,'' said the inspector with a grin. {}``Well, I have
been twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake.''

{}``If I am Mr.\ Neville St.\ Clair, then it is obvious that no
crime has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally detained.''

{}``No crime, but a very great error has been committed,'' said
Holmes. {}``You would have done better to have trusted your wife.''

{}``It was not the wife; it was the children,'' groaned the prisoner.
{}``God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My
God! What an exposure! What can I do?''

Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him kindly
on the shoulder.

{}``If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up,''
said he, {}``of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other
hand, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible
case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the
details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Bradstreet
would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you might tell us
and submit it to the proper authorities. The case would then never
go into court at all.''

{}``God bless you!''\ cried the prisoner passionately. {}``I would
have endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left
my miserable secret as a family blot to my children.

{}``You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was
a school-master in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent education.
I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and finally became a reporter
on an evening paper in London. One day my editor wished to have a
series of articles upon begging in the metropolis, and I volunteered
to supply them. There was the point from which all my adventures started.
It was only by trying begging as an amateur that I could get the facts
upon which to base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned
all the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the greenroom
for my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my
face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good scar
and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a small slip
of flesh-colored plaster. Then with a red head of hair, and an appropriate
dress, I took my station in the business part of the city, ostensibly
as a match-seller but really as a beggar. For seven hours I plied
my trade, and when I returned home in the evening I found to my surprise
that I had received no less than 26s.\ 4d.

{}``I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until,
some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ served
upon me for \pounds{}25. I was at my wit's end where to get the money,
but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's grace from the
creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, and spent the time
in begging in the City under my disguise. In ten days I had the money
and had paid the debt.

{}``Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous
work at \pounds{}2 a week when I knew that I could earn as much in
a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the
ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my pride and
the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up reporting and
sat day after day in the corner which I had first chosen, inspiring
pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets with coppers. Only
one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a low den in which I
used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could every morning emerge
as a squalid beggar and in the evenings transform myself into a well-dressed
man about town. This fellow, a Lascar, was well paid by me for his
rooms, so that I knew that my secret was safe in his possession.

{}``Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of
money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London could
earn \pounds{}700 a year\mdsh{---}which is less than my average
takings\mdsh{---}but I had exceptional advantages in my power of
making up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by practice
and made me quite a recognized character in the City. All day a stream
of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, and it was a very
bad day in which I failed to take \pounds{}2.

{}``As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the country,
and eventually married, without anyone having a suspicion as to my
real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had business in the City.
She little knew what.

{}``Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my
room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, to
my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the street,
with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of surprise, threw
up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my confidant, the Lascar,
entreated him to prevent anyone from coming up to me. I heard her
voice downstairs, but I knew that she could not ascend. Swiftly I
threw off my clothes, pulled on those of a beggar, and put on my pigments
and wig. Even a wife's eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise.
But then it occurred to me that there might be a search in the room,
and that the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening
by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in the
bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was weighted by
the coppers which I had just transferred to it from the leather bag
in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the window, and
it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes would have followed,
but at that moment there was a rush of constables up the stair, and
a few minutes after I found, rather, I confess, to my relief, that
instead of being identified as Mr.\ Neville St.\ Clair, I was arrested
as his murderer.

{}``I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain.
I was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and
hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would be
terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Lascar
at a moment when no constable was watching me, together with a hurried
scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to fear.''

{}``That note only reached her yesterday,'' said Holmes.

{}``Good God! What a week she must have spent!''

{}``The police have watched this Lascar,'' said Inspector Bradstreet,
{}``and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to
post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor customer
of his, who forgot all about it for some days.''

{}``That was it,'' said Holmes, nodding approvingly; {}``I have
no doubt of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?''

{}``Many times; but what was a fine to me?''

{}``It must stop here, however,'' said Bradstreet. {}``If the police
are to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone.''

{}``I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take.''

{}``In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps
may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out.
I am sure, Mr.\ Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for
having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your results.''

{}``I reached this one,'' said my friend, {}``by sitting upon five
pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if we
drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE BLUE CARBUNCLE}

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-blue-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A very seedy hard-felt hat.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second morning
after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the compliments
of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a purple dressing-gown,
a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and a pile of crumpled
morning papers, evidently newly studied, near at hand. Beside the
couch was a wooden chair, and on the angle of the back hung a very
seedy and disreputable hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and
cracked in several places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat
of the chair suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner
for the purpose of examination.

{}``You are engaged,'' said I; {}``perhaps I interrupt you.''

{}``Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss
my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one\char`\"{}\mdsh{---}he
jerked his thumb in the direction of the old hat\mdsh{---}\char`\"{}but
there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid
of interest and even of instruction.''

I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his crackling
fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows were thick with
the ice crystals. {}``I suppose,'' I remarked, {}``that, homely
as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to it\mdsh{---}that
it is the clew which will guide you in the solution of some mystery
and the punishment of some crime.''

{}``No, no. No crime,'' said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. {}``Only
one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you
have four million human beings all jostling each other within the
space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so dense
a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events may be expected
to take place, and many a little problem will be presented which may
be striking and bizarre without being criminal. We have already had
experience of such.''

{}``So much so,'' l remarked, {}``that of the last six cases which
I have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any legal
crime.''

{}``Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler
papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the adventure
of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt that this small
matter will fall into the same innocent category. You know Peterson,
the commissionaire?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``It is to him that this trophy belongs.''

{}``It is his hat.''

{}``No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will
look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual problem.
And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Christmas morning,
in company with a good fat goose, which is, I have no doubt, roasting
at this moment in front of Peterson's fire. The facts are these: about
four o'clock on Christmas morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is
a very honest fellow, was returning from some small jollification
and was making his way homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front
of him he saw, in the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight
stagger, and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he
reached the corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this
stranger and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off
the man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and,
swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. Peterson
had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his assailants; but
the man, shocked at having broken the window, and seeing an official-looking
person in uniform rushing towards him, dropped his goose, took to
his heels, and vanished amid the labyrinth of small streets which
lie at the back of Tottenham Court Road. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-blue-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The roughs had fled at the appearance
of Peterson.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Peterson, so that he
was left in possession of the field of battle, and also of the spoils
of victory in the shape of this battered hat and a most unimpeachable
Christmas goose.''

{}``Which surely he restored to their owner?''

{}``My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that `For
Mrs.\ Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to
the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials `H. B.'
are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are some thousands
of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in this city of ours,
it is not easy to restore lost property to any one of them.''

{}``What, then, did Peterson do?''

{}``He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning,
knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. The
goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs that,
in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it should be eaten
without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried it off, therefore,
to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, while I continue to retain
the hat of the unknown gentleman who lost his Christmas dinner.''

{}``Did he not advertise?''

{}``No.''

{}``Then, what clew could you have as to his identity?''

{}``Only as much as we can deduce.''

{}``From his hat?''

{}``Precisely.''

{}``But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered
felt?''

{}``Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather yourself
as to the individuality of the man who has worn this article?''

I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather ruefully.
It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round shape, hard and
much the worse for wear. The lining had been of red silk, but was
a good deal discolored. There was no maker's name; but, as Holmes
had remarked, the initials {}``H. B.'' were scrawled upon one side.
It was pierced in the brim for a hat-securer, but the elastic was
missing. For the rest, it was cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted
in several places, although there seemed to have been some attempt
to hide the discolored patches by smearing them with ink.

{}``I can see nothing,'' said I, handing it back to my friend.

{}``On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, however,
to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.''

{}``Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?''

He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fashion
which was characteristic of him. {}``It is perhaps less suggestive
than it might have been,'' he remarked, {}``and yet there are a
few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others which represent
at least a strong balance of probability. That the man was highly
intellectual is of course obvious upon the face of it, and also that
he was fairly well-to-do within the last three years, although he
has now fallen upon evil days. He had foresight, but has less now
than formerly, pointing to a moral retrogression, which, when taken
with the decline of his fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence,
probably drink, at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious
fact that his wife has ceased to love him.''

{}``My dear Holmes!''

{}``He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect,'' he
continued, disregarding my remonstrance. {}``He is a man who leads
a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is
middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the last
few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are the more
patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, by the way,
that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid on in his house.''

{}``You are certainly joking, Holmes.''

{}``Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you
these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?''

{}``I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that
I am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that this
man was intellectual?''

For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right over
the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. {}``It is a
question of cubic capacity,'' said he; {}``a man with so large a
brain must have something in it.''

{}``The decline of his fortunes, then?''

{}``This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge
came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the band
of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could afford
to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no hat since,
then he has assuredly gone down in the world.''

{}``Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the foresight
and the moral retrogression?''

Sherlock Holmes laughed. {}``Here is the foresight,'' said he putting
his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. {}``They
are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a sign of
a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his way to take
this precaution against the wind. But since we see that he has broken
the elastic and has not troubled to replace it, it is obvious that
he has less foresight now than formerly, which is a distinct proof
of a weakening nature. On the other hand, he has endeavored to conceal
some of these stains upon the felt by daubing them with ink, which
is a sign that he has not entirely lost his self-respect.''

{}``Your reasoning is certainly plausible.''

{}``The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is
grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses limecream,
are all to be gathered from a close examination of the lower part
of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of hair-ends, clean
cut by the scissors of the barber. They all appear to be adhesive,
and there is a distinct odour of lime-cream. This dust, you will observe,
is not the gritty, gray dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust
of the house, showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the
time, while the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive
that the wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly
be in the best of training.''

{}``But his wife\mdsh{---}you said that she had ceased to love him.''

{}``This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear
Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and when
your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear that
you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's affection.''

{}``But he might be a bachelor.''

{}``Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his
wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg.''

{}``You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce
that the gas is not laid on in his house?''

{}``One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when
I see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt that
the individual must be brought into frequent contact with burning
tallow\mdsh{---}walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in
one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never got
tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?''

{}``Well, it is very ingenious,'' said I, laughing; {}``but since,
as you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm
done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a waste
of energy.''

Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew
open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment
with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with astonishment.

{}``The goose, Mr.\ Holmes! The goose, sir!'' he gasped.

{}``Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off
through the kitchen window?'' Holmes twisted himself round upon the
sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-blue-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``See what my wife found in
its crop!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!'' He held
out his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly
scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but
of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric point
in the dark hollow of his hand.

Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. {}``By Jove, Peterson!''
said he, {}``this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what
you have got?''

{}``A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though
it were putty.''

{}``It's more than a precious stone. It is \emph{the} precious stone.''

{}``Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!'' I ejaculated.

{}``Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that
I have read the advertisement about it in \emph{The Times} every day
lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be conjectured,
but the reward offered of \pounds{}1000 is certainly not within a
twentieth part of the market price.''

{}``A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!'' The commissionaire
plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us.

{}``That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are
sentimental considerations in the background which would induce the
Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but recover the
gem.''

{}``It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan,''
I remarked.

{}``Precisely so, on December 22d, just five days ago. John Horner,
a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's jewel-case.
The evidence against him was so strong that the case has been referred
to the Assizes. I have some account of the matter here, I believe.''
He rummaged amid his newspapers, glancing over the dates, until at
last he smoothed one out, doubled it over, and read the following
paragraph:

\begin{quotation}
\noindent {}``Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26,
plumber, was brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22d inst.,
abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the valuable
gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, upper-attendant at the
hotel, gave his evidence to the effect that he had shown Horner up
to the dressing-room of the Countess of Morcar upon the day of the
robbery in order that he might solder the second bar of the grate,
which was loose. He had remained with Horner some little time, but
had finally been called away. On returning, he found that Horner had
disappeared, that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small
morocco casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess
was accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the dressing-table.
Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was arrested the same evening;
but the stone could not be found either upon his person or in his
rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to the Countess, deposed to having heard
Ryder's cry of dismay on discovering the robbery, and to having rushed
into the room, where she found matters as described by the last witness.
Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest of
Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence in
the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for robbery
having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate refused to
deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to the Assizes. Horner,
who had shown signs of intense emotion during the proceedings, fainted
away at the conclusion and was carried out of court.
\end{quotation}
{}``Hum! So much for the police-court,'' said Holmes thoughtfully,
tossing aside the paper. {}``The question for us now to solve is
the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end
to the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You see,
Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much more important
and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the stone came from the
goose, and the goose came from Mr.\ Henry Baker, the gentleman with
the bad hat and all the other characteristics with which I have bored
you. So now we must set ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman
and ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To
do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie undoubtedly
in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If this fail, I shall
have recourse to other methods.''

{}``What will you say?''

{}``Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 

\begin{quote}
`Found at the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat.
Mr.\ Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening
at \noun{221b}, Baker Street.' 
\end{quote}
That is clear and concise.''

{}``Very. But will he see it?''

{}``Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor
man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his mischance
in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson that he thought
of nothing but flight, but since then he must have bitterly regretted
the impulse which caused him to drop his bird. Then, again, the introduction
of his name will cause him to see it, for everyone who knows him will
direct his attention to it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the
advertising agency and have this put in the evening papers.''

{}``In which, sir?''

{}``Oh, in the \emph{Globe}, \emph{Star}, \emph{Pall Mall}, \emph{St.\ James's},
\emph{Evening News Standard}, \emph{Echo}, and any others that occur
to you.''

{}``Very well, sir. And this stone?''

{}``Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, Peterson,
just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here with me, for we
must have one to give to this gentleman in place of the one which
your family is now devouring.''

When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and held
it against the light. {}``It's a bonny thing,'' said he. {}``Just
see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and focus
of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet baits. In
the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a bloody deed.
This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found in the banks
of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in having every
characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is blue in shade instead
of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has already a sinister history.
There have been two murders, a vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several
robberies brought about for the sake of this forty-grain weight of
crystallized charcoal. Who would think that so pretty a toy would
be a purveyor to the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my
strong box now and drop a line to the Countess to say that we have
it.''

{}``Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?''

{}``I cannot tell.''

{}``Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker,
had anything to do with the matter?''

{}``It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an absolutely
innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he was carrying
was of considerably more value than if it were made of solid gold.
That, however, I shall determine by a very simple test if we have
an answer to our advertisement.''

{}``And you can do nothing until then?''

{}``Nothing.''

{}``In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall
come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I should
like to see the solution of so tangled a business.''

{}``Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I
believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I ought
to ask Mrs.\ Hudson to examine its crop.''

I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past
six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I approached
the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a coat which was
buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the bright semicircle which
was thrown from the fanlight. Just as l arrived the door was opened,
and we were shown up together to Holmes's room.

{}``Mr.\ Henry Baker, I believe,'' said he, rising from his armchair
and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he could
so readily assume. {}``Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr.\ Baker.
It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is more adapted
for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have just come at the
right time. Is that your hat, Mr.\ Baker?''

{}``Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat.''

He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a broad,
intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of grizzled brown.
A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight tremor of his extended
hand, recalled Holmes's surmise as to his habits. His rusty black
frock-coat was buttoned right up in front, with the collar turned
up, and his lank wrists protruded from his sleeves without a sign
of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a slow staccato fashion, choosing his
words with care, and gave the impression generally of a man of learning
and letters who had had ill-usage at the hands of fortune.

{}``We have retained these things for some days,'' said Holmes,
{}``because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your
address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise.''

Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. {}``Shillings have not
been so plentiful with me as they once were,'' he remarked. {}``I
had no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried
off both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in
a hopeless attempt at recovering them.''

{}``Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled
to eat it.''

{}``To eat it!'' Our visitor half rose from his chair in his excitement.

{}``Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so.
But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is about
the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your purpose equally
well?''

{}``Oh, certainly, certainly,'' answered Mr.\ Baker with a sigh
of relief.

{}``Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on
of your own bird, so if you wish\mdsh{---}''

The man burst into a hearty laugh. {}``They might be useful to me
as relics of my adventure,'' said he, {}``but beyond that I can
hardly see what use the \emph{disjecta membra} of my late acquaintance
are going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission,
I will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive
upon the sideboard.''

Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug of
his shoulders.

{}``There is your hat, then, and there your bird,'' said he. {}``By
the way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one
from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a better
grown goose.''

{}``Certainly, sir,'' said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly
gained property under his arm. {}``There are a few of us who frequent
the Alpha Inn, near the Museum\mdsh{---}we are to be found in the
Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our good host,
Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, on consideration
of some few pence every week, we were each to receive a bird at Christmas.
My pence were duly paid, and the rest is familiar to you. I am much
indebted to you, sir, for a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my
years nor my gravity.'' %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-blue-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He bowed solemnly to both of
us.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
With a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us
and strode off upon his way.

{}``So much for Mr.\ Henry Baker,'' said Holmes when he had closed
the door behind him. {}``It is quite certain that he knows nothing
whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?''

{}``Not particularly.''

{}``Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow
up this clew while it is still hot.''

{}``By all means.''

It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped cravats
about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in a cloudless
sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out into smoke like so
many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out crisply and loudly as we
swung through the doctors' quarter, Wimpole Street, Harley Street,
and so through Wigmore Street into Oxford Street. In a quarter of
an hour we were in Bloomsbury at the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house
at the corner of one of the streets which runs down into Holborn.
Holmes pushed open the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses
of beer from the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord.

{}``Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese,''
said he.

{}``My geese!'' The man seemed surprised.

{}``Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr.\ Henry Baker,
who was a member of your goose club.''

{}``Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese.''

{}``Indeed! Whose, then?''

{}``Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden.''

{}``Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?''

{}``Breckinridge is his name.''

{}``Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord,
and prosperity to your house. Good-night.

{}``Now for Mr.\ Breckinridge,'' he continued, buttoning up his
coat as we came out into the frosty air. {}``Remember, Watson that
though we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain,
we have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal
servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that
our inquiry may but confirm his guilt but, in any case, we have a
line of investigation which has been missed by the police, and which
a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us follow it out to
the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and quick march!''

We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a zigzag
of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest stalls bore the
name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor a horsy-looking man,
with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was helping a boy to put
up the shutters.

{}``Good-evening. It's a cold night,'' said Holmes.

The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my companion.

{}``Sold out of geese, I see,'' continued Holmes, pointing at the
bare slabs of marble.

{}``Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning.''

{}``That's no good.''

{}``Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare.''

{}``Ah, but I was recommended to you.''

{}``Who by?''

{}``The landlord of the Alpha.''

{}``Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen.''

{}``Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?''

To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the salesman.

{}``Now, then, mister,'' said he, with his head cocked and his arms
akimbo, {}``what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now.''

{}``It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the
geese which you supplied to the Alpha.''

{}``Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!''

{}``Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you
should be so warm over such a trifle.''

{}``Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am.
When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end of
the business; but it's `Where are the geese?'\ and `Who did you sell
the geese to?'\ and `What will you take for the geese?' One would
think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the fuss that
is made over them.''

{}``Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been
making inquiries,'' said Holmes carelessly. {}``If you won't tell
us the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my opinion
on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the bird I ate
is country bred.''

{}``Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred,'' snapped
the salesman.

{}``It's nothing of the kind.''

{}``I say it is.''

{}``I don't believe it.''

{}``D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled
them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that went
to the Alpha were town bred.''

{}``You'll never persuade me to believe that.''

{}``Will you bet, then?''

{}``It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But
I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be obstinate.''

The salesman chuckled grimly. {}``Bring me the books, Bill,'' said
he.

The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great greasy-backed
one, laying them out together beneath the hanging lamp.

{}``Now then, Mr.\ Cocksure,'' said the salesman, {}``I thought
that I was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there
is still one left in my shop. You see this little book?''

{}``Well?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-blue-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Just read it out to me.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well,
then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers after
their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. Now, then!
You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a list of my town
suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just read it out to me.''

{}``Mrs.\ Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road\mdsh{---}249,'' read Holmes.

{}``Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger.''

Holmes turned to the page indicated. {}``Here you are, `Mrs. Oakshott,
117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'''

{}``Now, then, what's the last entry?''

{}```December 22d. Twenty-four geese at 7s.\ 6d.'''

{}``Quite so. There you are. And underneath?''

{}```Sold to Mr.\ Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'''

{}``What have you to say now?''

Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from
his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the
air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off
he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless
fashion which was peculiar to him.

{}``When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the `Pink 'un'
protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet,''
said he. {}``I daresay that if I had put \pounds{}100 down in front
of him, that man would not have given me such complete information
as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a wager.
Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our quest, and the
only point which remains to be determined is whether we should go
on to this Mrs.\ Oakshott to-night, or whether we should reserve
it for to-morrow. It is clear from what that surly fellow said that
there are others besides ourselves who are anxious about the matter,
and I should\mdsh{---}''

His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke out
from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a little
rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of yellow light
which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Breckinridge, the salesman,
framed in the door of his stall, was shaking his fists fiercely at
the cringing figure.

{}``I've had enough of you and your geese,'' he shouted. {}``I
wish you were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me
any more with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs.
Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with it?
Did I buy the geese off you?''

{}``No; but one of them was mine all the same,'' whined the little
man.

{}``Well, then, ask Mrs.\ Oakshott for it.''

{}``She told me to ask you.''

{}``Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had
enough of it. Get out of this!'' He rushed fiercely forward, and
the inquirer flitted away into the darkness.

{}``Ha!\ this may save us a visit to Brixton Road,'' whispered
Holmes. {}``Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this
fellow.'' Striding through the scattered knots of people who lounged
round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the little
man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang round, and I could
see in the gas-light that every vestige of color had been driven from
his face.

{}``Who are you, then? What do you want?'' he asked in a quavering
voice.

{}``You will excuse me,'' said Holmes blandly, {}``but I could
not help overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just
now. I think that I could be of assistance to you.''

{}``You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?''

{}``My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other
people don't know.''

{}``But you can know nothing of this?''

{}``Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavoring to trace
some geese which were sold by Mrs.\ Oakshott, of Brixton Road, to
a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr.\ Windigate,
of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr.\ Henry Baker is
a member.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-blue-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``You are the very man.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet,''
cried the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers.
{}``I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter.''

Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. {}``In that
case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this wind-swept
market-place,'' said he. {}``But pray tell me, before we go farther,
who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting.''

The man hesitated for an instant. {}``My name is John Robinson,''
he answered with a sidelong glance.

{}``No, no; the real name,'' said Holmes sweetly. {}``It is always
awkward doing business with an alias.''

A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. {}``Well then,''
said he, {}``my real name is James Ryder.''

{}``Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray
step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you everything
which you would wish to know.''

The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with half-frightened,
half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure whether he is on the verge
of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Then he stepped into the cab, and
in half an hour we were back in the sitting-room at Baker Street.
Nothing had been said during our drive, but the high, thin breathing
of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands,
spoke of the nervous tension within him.

{}``Here we are!'' said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room.
{}``The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold,
Mr.\ Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my slippers
before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! You want
to know what became of those geese?''

{}``Yes, sir.''

{}``Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine
in which you were interested\mdsh{---}white, with a black bar across
the tail.''

Ryder quivered with emotion. {}``Oh, sir,'' he cried, {}``can you
tell me where it went to?''

{}``It came here.''

{}``Here?''

{}``Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that
you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was dead\mdsh{---}the
bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. I have it
here in my museum.''

Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece with
his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up the blue
carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold brilliant, many-pointed
radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a drawn face, uncertain whether
to claim or to disown it.

{}``The game's up, Ryder,'' said Holmes quietly. {}``Hold up, man,
or you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, Watson.
He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with impunity. Give
him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little more human. What a
shrimp it is, to be sure!''

For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy brought
a tinge of color into his cheeks, and he sat staring with frightened
eyes at his accuser.

{}``I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which
I could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me.
Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case complete.
You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Countess of Morcar's?''

{}``It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it,'' said he in a crackling
voice.

{}``I see\mdsh{---}her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation
of sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has
been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous in
the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the making
of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man Horner, the
plumber, had been concerned in some such matter before, and that suspicion
would rest the more readily upon him. What did you do, then? You made
some small job in my lady's room\mdsh{---}you and your confederate
Cusack\mdsh{---}and you managed that he should be the man sent for.
Then, when he had left, you rifled the jewel-case, raised the alarm,
and had this unfortunate man arrested. You \mdsh{then\mdsh{---}''}

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-blue-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Have mercy!''\ he shrieked.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my
companion's knees. {}``For God's sake, have mercy!''\ he shrieked.
{}``Think of my father! of my mother! It would break their hearts.
I never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll swear
it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's sake, don't!''

{}``Get back into your chair!''\ said Holmes sternly. {}``It is
very well to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of
this poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing.''

{}``I will fly, Mr.\ Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then
the charge against him will break down.''

{}``Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account
of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the
goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies your
only hope of safety.''

Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. {}``I will tell you
it just as it happened, sir,'' said he. {}``When Horner had been
arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get away
with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment the police
might not take it into their heads to search me and my room. There
was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. I went out, as
if on some commission, and I made for my sister's house. She had married
a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Road, where she fattened
fowls for the market. All the way there every man I met seemed to
me to be a policeman or a detective; and, for all that it was a cold
night, the sweat was pouring down my face before I came to the Brixton
Road. My sister asked me what was the matter, and why I was so pale;
but I told her that I had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel.
Then I went into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what
it would be best to do.

{}``I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and
has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met
me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they could
get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to me, for
I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind to go right
on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my confidence. He
would show me how to turn the stone into money. But how to get to
him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had gone through in coming
from the hotel. I might at any moment be seized and searched, and
there would be the stone in my waistcoat pocket. I was leaning against
the wall at the time and looking at the geese which were waddling
about round my feet, and suddenly an idea came into my head which
showed me how I could beat the best detective that ever lived.

{}``My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the
pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she was
always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in it I
would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in the yard,
and behind this I drove one of the birds\mdsh{---}a fine big one,
white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill open,
I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger could reach.
The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass along its gullet and
down into its crop. But the creature flapped and struggled, and out
came my sister to know what was the matter. As I turned to speak to
her the brute broke loose and fluttered off among the others.

{}```Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she.

{}```Well,' said I, `you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and
I was feeling which was the fattest.'

{}```Oh,' says she, `we've set yours aside for you\mdsh{---}Jem's
bird, we call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six
of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen for
the market.'

{}```Thank you, Maggie,' says I; `but if it is all the same to you,
I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.'

{}```The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, `and we
fattened it expressly for you.'

{}```Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said
I.

{}```Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. `Which is
it you want, then?'

{}``'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of
the flock.'

{}```Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.'

{}``Well, I did what she said, Mr.\ Holmes, and I carried the bird
all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was
a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed until
he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My heart turned
to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I knew that some
terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird rushed back to my sister's,
and hurried into the back yard. There was not a bird to be seen there.

{}```Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried.

{}```Gone to the dealer's, Jem.'

{}```Which dealer's?'

{}```Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.'

{}```But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, `the same
as the one I chose?'

{}``'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never
tell them apart.'

{}``Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as
my feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the
lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they had
gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always answered
me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Sometimes I think
that I am myself. And now\mdsh{---}and now I am myself a branded
thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which I sold my
character. God help me! God help me!'' %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
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\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He burst into convulsive sobbing.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He burst into convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands.

There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and by
the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes's finger-tips upon the edge
of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door.

{}``Get out!'' said he.

{}``What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!''

{}``No more words. Get out!''

And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon the
stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running footfalls
from the street.

{}``After all, Watson,'' said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his
clay pipe, {}``I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies.
If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; but this fellow
will not appear against him, and the case must collapse. I suppose
that I am commuting a felony, but it is just possible that I am saving
a soul. This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened.
Send him to jail now, and you make him a jail-bird for life. Besides,
it is the season of forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most
singular and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward.
If you will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin
another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief feature.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE SPECKLED BAND}

On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have
during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock
Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange,
but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of
his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to associate
himself with any investigation which did not tend towards the unusual,
and even the fantastic. Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot
recall any which presented more singular features than that which
was associated with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of
Stoke Moran. The events in question occurred in the early days of
my association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors
in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them upon
record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the time, from
which I have only been freed during the last month by the untimely
death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It is perhaps as well
that the facts should now come to light, for I have reasons to know
that there are widespread rumours as to the death of Dr.\ Grimesby
Roylott which tend to make the matter even more terrible than the
truth.

It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to find
Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my bed. He
was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the mantelpiece showed
me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I blinked up at him in some
surprise, and perhaps just a little resentment, for I was myself regular
in my habits.

{}``Very sorry to knock you up, Watson,'' said he, {}``but it's
the common lot this morning. Mrs.\ Hudson has been knocked up, she
retorted upon me, and I on you.''

{}``What is it, then\mdsh{---}a fire?''

{}``No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a considerable
state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She is waiting now
in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander about the metropolis
at this hour of the morning, and knock sleepy people up out of their
beds, I presume that it is something very pressing which they have
to communicate. Should it prove to be an interesting case, you would,
I am sure, wish to follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate,
that I should call you and give you the chance.''

{}``My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything.''

I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his professional
investigations, and in admiring the rapid deductions, as swift as
intuitions, and yet always founded on a logical basis with which he
unravelled the problems which were submitted to him. I rapidly threw
on my clothes and was ready in a few minutes to accompany my friend
down to the sitting-room. A lady dressed in black and heavily veiled,
who had been sitting in the window, rose as we entered.

{}``Good-morning, madam,'' said Holmes cheerily. {}``My name is
Sherlock Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr.\ Watson,
before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am glad
to see that Mrs.\ Hudson has had the good sense to light the fire.
Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot coffee, for
I observe that you are shivering.''

{}``It is not cold which makes me shiver,'' said the woman in a
low voice, changing her seat as requested.

{}``What, then?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
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\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small She raised her veil.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``It is fear, Mr.\ Holmes. It is terror.'' She raised her veil
as she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable state
of agitation, her face all drawn and gray, with restless frightened
eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and figure were
those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot with premature gray,
and her expression was weary and haggard. Sherlock Holmes ran her
over with one of his quick, all-comprehensive glances.

{}``You must not fear,'' said he soothingly, bending forward and
patting her forearm. {}``We shall soon set matters right, I have
no doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see.''

{}``You know me, then?''

{}``No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm
of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had a
good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached the
station.''

The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my companion.

{}``There is no mystery, my dear madam,'' said he, smiling. {}``The
left arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven
places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a
dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you sit
on the left-hand side of the driver.''

{}``Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct,'' said
she. {}``I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at twenty
past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I can stand
this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. I have no one
to turn to\mdsh{---}none, save only one, who cares for me, and he,
poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Mr.\ Holmes;
I have heard of you from Mrs.\ Farintosh, whom you helped in the
hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had your address. Oh,
sir, do you not think that you could help me, too, and at least throw
a little light through the dense darkness which surrounds me? At present
it is out of my power to reward you for your services, but in a month
or six weeks I shall be married, with the control of my own income,
and then at least you shall not find me ungrateful.''

Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small case-book,
which he consulted.

{}``Farintosh,'' said he. {}``Ah yes, I recall the case; it was
concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, Watson.
I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote the same care
to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to reward, my profession
is its own reward; but you are at liberty to defray whatever expenses
I may be put to, at the time which suits you best. And now I beg that
you will lay before us everything that may help us in forming an opinion
upon the matter.''

{}``Alas!'' replied our visitor, {}``the very horror of my situation
lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend
so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to another,
that even he to whom of all others I have a right to look for help
and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it as the fancies
of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can read it from his
soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have heard, Mr.\ Holmes,
that you can see deeply into the manifold wickedness of the human
heart. You may advise me how to walk amid the dangers which encompass
me.''

{}``I am all attention, madam.''

{}``My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather,
who is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in England,
the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of Surrey.''

Holmes nodded his head. {}``The name is familiar to me,'' said he.

{}``The family was at one time among the richest in England, and
the estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north,
and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four successive
heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, and the family
ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the days of the Regency.
Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, and the two-hundred-year-old
house, which is itself crushed under a heavy mortgage. The last squire
dragged out his existence there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic
pauper; but his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt
himself to the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative,
which enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta,
where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he established
a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused by some robberies
which had been perpetrated in the house, he beat his native butler
to death and narrowly escaped a capital sentence. As it was, he suffered
a long term of imprisonment and afterwards returned to England a morose
and disappointed man.

{}``When Dr.\ Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs.\ Stoner,
the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery.
My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old at
the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable sum of
money\mdsh{---}not less than \pounds{}1000 a year\mdsh{---}and
this she bequeathed to Dr.\ Roylott entirely while we resided with
him, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed
to each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return
to England my mother died\mdsh{---}she was killed eight years ago
in a railway accident near Crewe. Dr.\ Roylott then abandoned his
attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us to
live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The money
which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there seemed
to be no obstacle to our happiness.

{}``But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time.
Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our neighbors,
who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of Stoke Moran back
in the old family seat, he shut himself up in his house and seldom
came out save to indulge in ferocious quarrels with whoever might
cross his path. Violence of temper approaching to mania has been hereditary
in the men of the family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe,
been intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of
disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the police-court,
until at last he became the terror of the village, and the folks would
fly at his approach, for he is a man of immense strength, and absolutely
uncontrollable in his anger.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``He hurled the blacksmith
over a parapet.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into
a stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I could
gather together that I was able to avert another public exposure.
He had no friends at all save the wandering gypsies, and he would
give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few acres of bramble-covered
land which represent the family estate, and would accept in return
the hospitality of their tents, wandering away with them sometimes
for weeks on end. He has a passion also for Indian animals, which
are sent over to him by a correspondent, and he has at this moment
a cheetah and a baboon, which wander freely over his grounds and are
feared by the villagers almost as much as their master.

{}``You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and
I had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with us,
and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was but
thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already begun
to whiten, even as mine has.''

{}``Your sister is dead, then?''

{}``She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish
to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I
have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own age
and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden sister,
Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we were occasionally
allowed to pay short visits at this lady's house. Julia went there
at Christmas two years ago, and met there a half-pay major of marines,
to whom she became engaged. My stepfather learned of the engagement
when my sister returned and offered no objection to the marriage;
but within a fortnight of the day which had been fixed for the wedding,
the terrible event occurred which has deprived me of my only companion.''

Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed
and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his lids now and
glanced across at his visitor.

{}``Pray be precise as to details,'' said he.

{}``It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful
time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have already
said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The bedrooms in
this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms being in the
central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms the first is Dr.\ Roylott's,
the second my sister's, and the third my own. There is no communication
between them, but they all open out into the same corridor. Do I make
myself plain?''

{}``Perfectly so.''

{}``The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That fatal
night Dr.\ Roylott had gone to his room early, though we knew that
he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled by the smell
of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom to smoke. She
left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where she sat for some
time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At eleven o'clock she
rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and looked back.

{}```Tell me, Helen,' said she, `have you ever heard anyone whistle
in the dead of the night?'

{}```Never,' said I.

{}``'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in
your sleep?'

{}```Certainly not. But why?'

{}``'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three
in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper,
and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from perhaps from
the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would just
ask you whether you had heard it.'

{}``'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gypsies in the plantation.'

{}``'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you
did not hear it also.'

{}```Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.'

{}```Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled
back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her key
turn in the lock.''

{}``Indeed,'' said Holmes. {}``Was it your custom always to lock
yourselves in at night?''

{}``Always.''

{}``And why?''

{}``I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah
and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were
locked.''

{}``Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement.''

{}``I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending misfortune
impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, were twins, and
you know how subtle are the links which bind two souls which are so
closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind was howling outside,
and the rain was beating and splashing against the windows. Suddenly,
amid all the hubbub of the gale, there burst forth the wild scream
of a terrified woman. I knew that it was my sister's voice. I sprang
from my bed, wrapped a shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor.
As I opened my door I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister
described, and a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass
of metal had fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was
unlocked, and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it horror-stricken,
not knowing what was about to issue from it. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Her face blanched with terror.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
By the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the opening,
her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for help, her whole
figure swaying to and fro like that of a drunkard. I ran to her and
threw my arms round her, but at that moment her knees seemed to give
way and she fell to the ground. She writhed as one who is in terrible
pain, and her limbs were dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought
that she had not recognized me, but as I bent over her she suddenly
shrieked out in a voice which I shall never forget, `Oh, my God! Helen!
It was the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which
she would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the
air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion
seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for
my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his dressing-gown.
When he reached my sister's side she was unconscious, and though he
poured brandy down her throat and sent for medical aid from the village,
all efforts were in vain, for she slowly sank and died without having
recovered her consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved
sister.''

{}``One moment,'' said Holmes, {}``are you sure about this whistle
and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?''

{}``That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It
is my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash
of the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have
been deceived.''

{}``Was your sister dressed?''

{}``No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the
charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box.''

{}``Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when
the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did
the coroner come to?''

{}``He investigated the case with great care, for Dr.\ Roylott's
conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable to
find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that the
door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows were blocked
by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, which were secured
every night. The walls were carefully sounded, and were shown to be
quite solid all round, and the flooring was also thoroughly examined,
with the same result. The chimney is wide, but is barred up by four
large staples. It is certain, therefore, that my sister was quite
alone when she met her end. Besides, there were no marks of any violence
upon her.''

{}``How about poison?''

{}``The doctors examined her for it, but without success.''

{}``What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?''

{}``It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock,
though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine.''

{}``Were there gypsies in the plantation at the time?''

{}``Yes, there are nearly always some there.''

{}``Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band\mdsh{---}a
speckled band?''

{}``Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of
delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of people,
perhaps to these very gypsies in the plantation. I do not know whether
the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear over their heads
might have suggested the strange adjective which she used.''

Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied.

{}``These are very deep waters,'' said he; {}``pray go on with
your narrative.''

{}``Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until
lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, whom
I have known for many years, has done me the honor to ask my hand
in marriage. His name is Armitage\mdsh{---}Percy Armitage\mdsh{---}the
second son of Mr.\ Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My stepfather
has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to be married in
the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs were started in
the west wing of the building, and my bedroom wall has been pierced,
so that I have had to move into the chamber in which my sister died,
and to sleep in the very bed in which she slept. Imagine, then, my
thrill of terror when last night, as I lay awake, thinking over her
terrible fate, I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low
whistle which had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and
lit the lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken
to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was daylight
I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which is opposite,
and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on this morning
with the one object of seeing you and asking your advice.''

{}``You have done wisely,'' said my friend. {}``But have you told
me all?''

{}``Yes, all.''

{}``Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather.''

{}``Why, what do you mean?''

For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which fringed
the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little livid spots,
the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed upon the white
wrist.

{}``You have been cruelly used,'' said Holmes.

The lady colored deeply and covered over her injured wrist. {}``He
is a hard man,'' she said, {}``and perhaps he hardly knows his own
strength.''

There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin upon
his hands and stared into the crackling fire.

{}``This is a very deep business,'' he said at last. {}``There
are a thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide
upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If we
were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for us to
see over these rooms without the knowledge of your stepfather?''

{}``As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some
most important business. It is probable that he will be away all day,
and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a housekeeper
now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily get her out of
the way.''

{}``Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?''

{}``By no means.''

{}``Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?''

{}``I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I
am in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as
to be there in time for your coming.''

{}``And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some
small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and breakfast?''

{}``No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have confided
my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you again this afternoon.''
She dropped her thick black veil over her face and glided from the
room.

{}``And what do you think of it all, Watson?'' asked Sherlock Holmes,
leaning back in his chair.

{}``It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business.''

{}``Dark enough and sinister enough.''

{}``Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls
are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable,
then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her
mysterious end.''

{}``What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of
the very peculiar words of the dying woman?''

{}``I cannot think.''

{}``When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence
of a band of gypsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor,
the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has
an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying allusion
to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner heard a metallic
clang, which might have been caused by one of those metal bars that
secured the shutters falling back into its place, I think that there
is good ground to think that the mystery may be cleared along those
lines.''

{}``But what, then, did the gypsies do?''

{}``I cannot imagine.''

{}``I see many objections to any such theory.''

{}``And so do I.\ It is precisely for that reason that we are going
to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are
fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the
devil!''

The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that
our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had framed
himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar mixture of the
professional and of the agricultural, having a black top-hat, a long
frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, with a hunting-crop swinging
in his hand. So tall was he that his hat actually brushed the cross
bar of the doorway, and his breadth seemed to span it across from
side to side. A large face, seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned
yellow with the sun, and marked with every evil passion, was turned
from one to the other of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and
his high, thin, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance
to a fierce old bird of prey.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Which of you is Holmes?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Which of you is Holmes?''\ asked this apparition.

{}``My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me,'' said my companion
quietly.

{}``I am Dr.\ Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran.''

{}``Indeed, Doctor,'' said Holmes blandly. {}``Pray take a seat.''

{}``I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here.
I have traced her. What has she been saying to you?''

{}``It is a little cold for the time of the year,'' said Holmes.

{}``What has she been saying to you?''\ screamed the old man furiously.

{}``But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,'' continued
my companion imperturbably.

{}``Ha! You put me off, do you?''\ said our new visitor, taking
a step forward and shaking his hunting-crop. {}``I know you, you
scoundrel! I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler.''

My friend smiled.

{}``Holmes, the busybody!''

His smile broadened.

{}``Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!''

Holmes chuckled heartily. {}``Your conversation is most entertaining,''
said he. {}``When you go out close the door, for there is a decided
draught.''

{}``I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with
my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I
am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here.'' He stepped swiftly
forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with his huge
brown hands.

{}``See that you keep yourself out of my grip,'' he snarled, and
hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the
room.

{}``He seems a very amiable person,'' said Holmes, laughing. {}``I
am not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him
that my grip was not much more feeble than his own.'' As he spoke
he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, straightened
it out again.

{}``Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official
detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, however,
and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer from her imprudence
in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Watson, we shall order
breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk down to Doctors' Commons, where
I hope to get some data which may help us in this matter.''

It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his excursion.
He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled over with notes
and figures.

{}``I have seen the will of the deceased wife,'' said he. {}``To
determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the present
prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The total income,
which at the time of the wife's death was little short of \pounds{}1100,
is now, through the fall in agricultural prices, not more than \pounds{}750.
Each daughter can claim an income of \pounds{}250, in case of marriage.
It is evident, therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty
would have had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple
him to a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted,
since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for standing
in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, this is too serious
for dawdling, especially as the old man is aware that we are interesting
ourselves in his affairs; so if you are ready, we shall call a cab
and drive to Waterloo. I should be very much obliged if you would
slip your revolver into your pocket. An Eley's No.\ 2 is an excellent
argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots. That
and a tooth-brush are, I think, all that we need.''

At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Leatherhead,
where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove for four or five
miles through the lovely Surrey laries. It was a perfect day, with
a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the heavens. The trees and
wayside hedges were just throwing out their first green shoots, and
the air was full of the pleasant smell of the moist earth. To me at
least there was a strange contrast between the sweet promise of the
spring and this sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion
sat in the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down
over his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the deepest
thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the shoulder,
and pointed over the meadows

{}``Look there!'' said he.

A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, thickening
into a grove at the highest point. From amid the branches there jutted
out the gray gables and high roof-tree of a very old mansion.

{}``Stoke Moran?'' said he.

{}``Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr.\ Grimesby Roylott,'' remarked
the driver.

{}``There is some building going on there,'' said Holmes; {}``that
is where we are going.''

{}``There's the village,'' said the driver, pointing to a cluster
of roofs some distance to the left; {}``but if you want to get to
the house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by
the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is walking.''

{}``And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner,'' observed Holmes, shading
his eyes. {}``Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small We got off, paid our fare.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way to
Leatherhead.

{}``I thought it as well,'' said Holmes as we climbed the stile,
{}``that this fellow should think we had come here as architects,
or on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. Good-afternoon,
Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as our word.''

Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a face
which spoke her joy. {}``I have been waiting so eagerly for you,''
she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. {}``All has turned out splendidly.
Dr.\ Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely that he will be
back before evening.''

{}``We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance,''
said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had occurred.
Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened.

{}``Good heavens!''\ she cried, {}``he has followed me, then.''

{}``So it appears.''

{}``He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What
will he say when he returns?''

{}``He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone
more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself up
from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to your
aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our time, so kindly
take us at once to the rooms which we are to examine.''

The building was of gray, lichen-blotched stone, with a high central
portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, thrown out
on each side. In one of these wings the windows were broken and blocked
with wooden boards, while the roof was partly caved in, a picture
of ruin. The central portion was in little better repair, but the
right-hand block was comparatively modern, and the blinds in the windows,
with the blue smoke curling up from the chimneys, showed that this
was where the family resided. Some scaffolding had been erected against
the end wall, and the stone-work had been broken into, but there were
no signs of any workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked
slowly up and down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention
the outsides of the windows.

{}``This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep,
the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main building
to Dr.\ Roylott's chamber?''

{}``Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one.''

{}``Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does
not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end wall.''

{}``There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from
my room.''

{}``Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow
wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There are
windows in it, of course?''

{}``Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass through.''

{}``As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were unapproachable
from that side. Now, would you have the kindness to go into your room
and bar your shutters?''

Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination through
the open window, endeavored in every way to force the shutter open,
but without success. There was no slit through which a knife could
be passed to raise the bar. Then with his lens he tested the hinges,
but they were of solid iron, built firmly into the massive masonry.
{}``Hum!'' said he, scratching his chin in some perplexity, {}``my
theory certainly presents some difficulties. No one could pass these
shutters if they were bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws
any light upon the matter.''

A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which the
three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third chamber,
so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss Stoner was
now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her fate. It was
a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a gaping fireplace, after
the fashion of old country-houses. A brown chest of drawers stood
in one corner, a narrow white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table
on the left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small
wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save for
a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and the
panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old and discolored
that it may have dated from the original building of the house. Holmes
drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat silent, while his eyes
travelled round and round and up and down, taking in every detail
of the apartment.

{}``Where does that bell communicate with?'' he asked at last pointing
to a thick belt-rope which hung down beside the bed, the tassel actually
lying upon the pillow.

{}``It goes to the housekeeper's room.''

{}``It looks newer than the other things?''

{}``Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago.''

{}``Your sister asked for it, I suppose?''

{}``No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what
we wanted for ourselves.''

{}``Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there.
You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to
this floor.'' He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in
his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining minutely
the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with the wood-work
with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he walked over to the
bed and spent some time in staring at it and in running his eye up
and down the wall. Finally he took the bell-rope in his hand and gave
it a brisk tug.

{}``Why, it's a dummy,'' said he.

{}``Won't it ring?''

{}``No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting.
You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the
little opening for the ventilator is.''

{}``How very absurd! I never noticed that before.''

{}``Very strange!'' muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. {}``There
are one or two very singular points about this room. For example,
what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another room,
when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated with the outside
air!''

{}``That is also quite modern,'' said the lady.

{}``Done about the same time as the bell-rope?'' remarked Holmes.

{}``Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that
time.''

{}``They seem to have been of a most interesting character\mdsh{---}dummy
bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your permission,
Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into the inner apartment.''

Dr.\ Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his step-daughter,
but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small wooden shelf full
of books, mostly of a technical character an armchair beside the bed,
a plain wooden chair against the wall, a round table, and a large
iron safe were the principal things which met the eye. Holmes walked
slowly round and examined each and all of them with the keenest interest.

{}``What's in here?''\ he asked, tapping the safe.

{}``My stepfather's business papers.''

{}``Oh! you have seen inside, then?''

{}``Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of papers.''

{}``There isn't a cat in it, for example?''

{}``No. What a strange idea!''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Well, look at this.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Well, look at this!'' He took up a small saucer of milk which
stood on the top of it.

{}``No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon.''

{}``Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet
a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I daresay.
There is one point which I should wish to determine.'' He squatted
down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat of it with
the greatest attention.

{}``Thank you. That is quite settled,'' said he, rising and putting
his lens in his pocket. {}``Hello! Here is something interesting!''

The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on one
corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and tied
so as to make a loop of whipcord.

{}``What do you make of that, Watson?''

{}``It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why if should be
tied.''

{}``That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me!\ it's a wicked world,
and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst of
all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and with your
permission we shall walk out upon the lawn.''

I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as it
was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had walked
several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Stoner nor myself
liking to break in upon his thoughts before he roused himself from
his reverie.

{}``It is very essential, Miss Stoner,'' said he, {}``that you
should absolutely follow my advice in every respect.''

{}``I shall most certainly do so.''

{}``The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may depend
upon your compliance.''

{}``I assure you that I am in your hands.''

{}``In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night
in your room.''

Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment.

{}``Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the
village inn over there?''

{}``Yes, that is the Crown.''

{}``Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?''

{}``Certainly.''

{}``You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a headache,
when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him retire for
the night, you must open the shutters of your window, undo the hasp,
put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then withdraw quietly with
everything which you are likely to want into the room which you used
to occupy. I have no doubt that, in spite of the repairs, you could
manage there for one night.''

{}``Oh, yes, easily.''

{}``The rest you will leave in our hands.''

{}``But what will you do?''

{}``We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate
the cause of this noise which has disturbed you.''

{}``I believe, Mr.\ Holmes, that you have already made up your mind,''
said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve.

{}``Perhaps I have.''

{}``Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's
death.''

{}``I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak.''

{}``You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and
if she died from some sudden fright.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-spec-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Good-bye, and be brave.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more
tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Dr.\ Roylott
returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. Good-bye, and be
brave, for if you will do what I have told you you may rest assured
that we shall soon drive away the dangers that threaten you.''

Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and
sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and from
our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and of the
inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw Dr.\ Grimesby
Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the little figure
of the lad who drove him. The boy had some slight difficulty in undoing
the heavy iron gates, and we heard the hoarse roar of the doctor's
voice and saw the fury with which he shook his clinched fists at him.
The trap drove on, and a few minutes later we saw a sudden light spring
up among the trees as the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms.

{}``Do you know, Watson,'' said Holmes as we sat together in the
gathering darkness, {}``I have really some scruples as to taking
you to-night. There is a distinct element of danger.''

{}``Can I be of assistance?''

{}``Your presence might be invaluable.''

{}``Then I shall certainly come.''

{}``It is very kind of you.''

{}``You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms
than was visible to me.''

{}``No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine
that you saw all that I did.''

{}``I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose
that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine.''

{}``You saw the ventilator, too?''

{}``Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing
to have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a
rat could hardly pass through.''

{}``I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to
Stoke Moran.''

{}``My dear Holmes!''

{}``Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her
sister could smell Dr.\ Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that suggested
at once that there must be a communication between the two rooms.
It could only be a small one, or it would have been remarked upon
at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator.''

{}``But what harm can there be in that?''

{}``Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A ventilator
is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the bed dies. Does
not that strike you?''

{}``I cannot as yet see any connection.''

{}``Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?''

{}``No.''

{}``It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened
like that before?''

{}``I cannot say that I have.''

{}``The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same
relative position to the ventilator and to the rope\mdsh{---}or so
we may call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull.''

{}``Holmes,'' I cried, {}``I seem to see dimly what you are hinting
at. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible crime.''

{}``Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong
he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. Palmer
and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. This man strikes
even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall be able to strike
deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough before the night is
over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet pipe and turn our minds
for a few hours to something more cheerful.''

About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, and
all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours passed
slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of eleven, a single
bright light shone out right in front of us.

{}``That is our signal,'' said Holmes, springing to his feet; {}``it
comes from the middle window.''

As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, explaining
that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, and that it
was possible that we might spend the night there. A moment later we
were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing in our faces, and
one yellow light twinkling in front of us through the gloom to guide
us on our sombre errand.

There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for unrepaired
breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way among the trees,
we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about to enter through the
window when out from a clump of laurel bushes there darted what seemed
to be a hideous and distorted child, who threw itself upon the grass
with writhing limbs and then ran swiftly across the lawn into the
darkness.

{}``My God!'' I whispered; {}``did you see it?''

Holmes was for the moment as startled as I.\ His hand closed like
a vise upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low laugh
and put his lips to my ear.

{}``It is a nice household,'' he murmured. {}``That is the baboon.''

I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There
was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders at
any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, after following
Holmes's example and slipping off my shoes, I found myself inside
the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed the shutters, moved the
lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes round the room. All was as
we had seen it in the daytime. Then creeping up to me and making a
trumpet of his hand, he whispered into my ear again so gently that
it was all that I could do to distinguish the words:

{}``The least sound would be fatal to our plans.''

I nodded to show that I had heard.

{}``We must sit without light. He would see it through the ventilator.''

I nodded again.

{}``Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your
pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of
the bed, and you in that chair.''

I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table.

Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon the
bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the stump of
a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left in darkness.

How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a sound,
not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my companion
sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same state of nervous
tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut off the least ray
of light, and we waited in absolute darkness.

From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at
our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that the
cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the deep tones
of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of an hour. How
long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and one and two and
three, and still we sat waiting silently for whatever might befall.

Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the direction
of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was succeeded by
a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Someone in the next
room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle sound of movement, and
then all was silent once more, though the smell grew stronger. For
half an hour I sat with straining ears. Then suddenly another sound
became audible\mdsh{---}a very gentle, soothing sound, like that
of a small jet of steam escaping continually from a kettle. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes lashed furiously.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
The instant that we heard it, Holmes sprang from the bed, struck a
match, and lashed furiously with his cane at the bell-pull.

{}``You see it, Watson?'' he yelled. {}``You see it?''

But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I heard
a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my weary
eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my friend
lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face was deadly
pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had ceased to strike
and was gazing up at the ventilator when suddenly there broke from
the silence of the night the most horrible cry to which I have ever
listened. It swelled up louder and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and
fear and anger all mingled in the one dreadful shriek. They say that
away down in the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that
cry raised the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts,
and I stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes
of it had died away into the silence from which it rose.

{}``What can it mean?'' I gasped.

{}``It means that it is all over,'' Holmes answered. {}``And perhaps,
after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will enter
Dr.\ Roylott's room.''

With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the corridor.
Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply from within.
Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his heels, with the cocked
pistol in my hand.

It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a dark-lantern
with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant beam of light upon
the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. Beside this table, on the
wooden chair, sat Dr.\ Grimesby Roylott clad in a long gray dressing-gown,
his bare ankles protruding beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless
Turkish slippers. Across his lap lay the short stock with the long
lash which we had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward
and his eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of
the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with brownish
speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his head. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-spec-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He made neither sound nor motion.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
As we entered he made neither sound nor motion.

{}``The band! the speckled band!'' whispered Holmes.

I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began to
move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat diamond-shaped
head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent.

{}``It is a swamp adder!''\ cried Holmes; {}``the deadliest snake
in India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence
does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls into
the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this creature back
into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to some place of
shelter and let the county police know what has happened.''

As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap,
and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from its
horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into the iron
safe, which he closed upon it.

Such are the true facts of the death of Dr.\ Grimesby Roylott, of
Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a narrative
which has already run to too great a length by telling how we broke
the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed her by the morning
train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, of how the slow process
of official inquiry came to the conclusion that the doctor met his
fate while indiscreetly playing with a dangerous pet. The little which
I had yet to learn of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we
travelled back next day.

{}``I had,'' said he, {}``come to an entirely erroneous conclusion
which shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason
from insufficient data. The presence of the gypsies, and the use of
the word `band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt to explain
the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of by the light
of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an entirely wrong scent.
I can only claim the merit that I instantly reconsidered my position
when, however, it became clear to me that whatever danger threatened
an occupant of the room could not come either from the window or the
door. My attention was speedily drawn, as I have already remarked
to you, to this ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to
the bed. The discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was
clamped to the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the
rope was there as a bridge for something passing through the hole
and coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me,
and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was furnished
with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I was probably
on the right track. The idea of using a form of poison which could
not possibly be discovered by any chemical test was just such a one
as would occur to a clever and ruthless man who had had an Eastern
training. The rapidity with which such a poison would take effect
would also, from his point of view, be an advantage. It would be a
sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could distinguish the two little dark
punctures which would show where the poison fangs had done their work.
Then I thought of the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake
before the morning light revealed it to the victim. He had trained
it, probably by the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him
when summoned. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour
that he thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down
the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the occupant,
perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but sooner or later
she must fall a victim.

{}``I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his
room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in the
habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary in order
that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the safe, the saucer
of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to finally dispel any
doubts which may have remained. The metallic clang heard by Miss Stoner
was obviously caused by her stepfather hastily closing the door of
his safe upon its terrible occupant. Having once made up my mind,
you know the steps which I took in order to put the matter to the
proof. I heard the creature hiss as I have no doubt that you did also,
and I instantly lit the light and attacked it.''

{}``With the result of driving it through the ventilator.''

{}``And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master
at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and roused
its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person it saw.
In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. Grimesby
Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to weigh very
heavily upon my conscience.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEERS THUMB}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE ENGINEERS THUMB}

Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.\ Sherlock
Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, there were
only two which I was the means of introducing to his notice\mdsh{---}that
of Mr.\ Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Warburton's madness.
Of these the latter may have afforded a finer field for an acute and
original observer, but the other was so strange in its inception and
so dramatic in its details that it may be the more worthy of being
placed upon record, even if it gave my friend fewer openings for those
deductive methods of reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable
results. The story has, I believe, been told more than once in the
newspapers, but, like all such narratives, its effect is much less
striking when set forth \emph{en bloc} in a single half-column of
print than when the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and
the mystery clears gradually away as each new discovery furnishes
a step which leads on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances
made a deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly
served to weaken the effect.

It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the
events occurred which I am now about to summarize. I had returned
to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker Street
rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally even persuaded
him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come and visit us. My
practice had steadily increased, and as I happened to live at no very
great distance from Paddington Station, I got a few patients from
among the officials. One of these, whom I had cured of a painful and
lingering disease, was never weary of advertising my virtues and of
endeavoring to send me on every sufferer over whom he might have any
influence.

One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by the
maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come from Paddington
and were waiting in the consulting-room. I dressed hurriedly, for
I knew by experience that railway cases were seldom trivial, and hastened
downstairs. As I descended, my old ally, the guard, came out of the
room and closed the door tightly behind him.

{}``I've got him here,'' he whispered, jerking his thumb over his
shoulder; {}``he's all right.''

{}``What is it, then?'' I asked, for his manner suggested that it
was some strange creature which he had caged up in my room.

{}``It's a new patient,'' he whispered. {}``I thought I'd bring
him round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe
and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the same
as you.'' And off he went, this trusty tout, without even giving
me time to thank him.

I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the table.
He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a soft cloth
cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of his hands he
had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all over with bloodstains.
He was young, not more than five-and-twenty, I should say, with a
strong, masculine face; but he was exceedingly pale and gave me the
impression of a man who was suffering from some strong agitation,
which it took all his strength of mind to control.

{}``I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor,'' said he, {}``but
I have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by
train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I might
find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me here. I gave
the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon the side-table.''

I took it up and glanced at it. {}``Mr.\ Victor Hatherley, hydraulic
engineer, \noun{16a}. Victoria Street (3d floor).'' That was the
name, style, and abode of my morning visitor. {}``I regret that I
have kept you waiting,'' said I, sitting down in my library-chair.
{}``You are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in
itself a monotonous occupation.''

{}``Oh, my night could not be called monotonous,'' said he, and
laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, leaning
back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical instincts
rose up against that laugh.

{}``Stop it!''\ I cried; {}``pull yourself together!'' and I
poured out some water from a caraffe.

It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical outbursts
which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis is over and
gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very weary and pale-looking.

{}``I have been making a fool of myself,'' he gasped.

{}``Not at all. Drink this.'' I dashed some brandy into the water,
and the color began to come back to his bloodless cheeks.

{}``That's better!''\ said he. {}``And now, Doctor, perhaps you
would kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb
used to be.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-engr-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He unwound the handkerchief and
held out his hand.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even my
hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four protruding
fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the thumb should have
been. It had been hacked or torn right out from the roots.

{}``Good heavens!''\ I cried, {}``this is a terrible injury. It
must have bled considerably.''

{}``Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must
have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that it
was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very tightly
round the wrist and braced it up with a twig.''

{}``Excellent! You should have been a surgeon.''

{}``It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own
province.''

{}``This has been done,'' said I, examining the wound, {}``by a
very heavy and sharp instrument.''

{}``A thing like a cleaver,'' said he.

{}``An accident, I presume?''

{}``By no means.''

{}``What! a murderous attack?''

{}``Very murderous indeed.''

{}``You horrify me.''

I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered it
over with cotton wadding and carbolized bandages. He lay back without
wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time.

{}``How is that?'' I asked when I had finished.

{}``Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man.
I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through.''

{}``Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently
trying to your nerves.''

{}``Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police;
but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing evidence
of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they believed my statement,
for it is a very extraordinary one, and I have not much in the way
of proof with which to back it up; and, even if they believe me, the
clews which I can give them are so vague that it is a question whether
justice will be done.''

{}``Ha!''\ cried I, {}``if it is anything in the nature of a problem
which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you to
come to my friend, Mr.\ Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the official
police.''

{}``Oh, I have heard of that fellow,'' answered my visitor, {}``and
I should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of course
I must use the official police as well. Would you give me an introduction
to him?''

{}``I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself.''

{}``I should be immensely obliged to you.''

{}``We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to
have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?''

{}``Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story.''

{}``Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an
instant.'' I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my
wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my new
acquaintance to Baker Street.

Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his sitting-room
in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of \emph{The Times}
and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed of all the
plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day before, all carefully
dried and collected on the corner of the mantelpiece. He received
us in his quietly genial fashion, ordered fresh rashers and eggs,
and joined us in a hearty meal. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-engr-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He settled our new acquaintance
on the sofa.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the sofa,
placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of brandy and water
within his reach.

{}``It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one,
Mr.\ Hatherley,'' said he. {}``Pray, lie down there and make yourself
absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are tired
and keep up your strength with a little stimulant.''

{}``Thank you,'' said my patient.\ {}``but I have felt another
man since the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast
has completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable
time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar experiences.''

Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded expression
which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat opposite to him,
and we listened in silence to the strange story which our visitor
detailed to us.

{}``You must know,'' said he, {}``that I am an orphan and a bachelor,
residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a hydraulic
engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my work during
the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner \& Matheson, the
well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, having served my time,
and having also come into a fair sum of money through my poor father's
death, I determined to start in business for myself and took professional
chambers in Victoria Street.

{}``I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in
business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so.
During two years I have had three consultations and one small job,
and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought me. My gross
takings amount to \pounds{}27 10s. Every day, from nine in the morning
until four in the afternoon, I waited in my little den, until at last
my heart began to sink, and I came to believe that I should never
have any practice at all.

{}``Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the office,
my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who wished to
see me upon business. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-engr-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Colonel Lysander Stark.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He brought up a card, too, with the name of `Colonel Lysander Stark'
engraved upon it. Close at his heels came the colonel himself, a man
rather over the middle size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not
think that I have ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened
away into nose and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite
tense over his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be
his natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright,
his step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly
dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than thirty.

{}```Mr.\ Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent.
`You have been recommended to me, Mr.\ Hatherley, as being a man
who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet
and capable of preserving a secret.'

{}``I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such
an address. `May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?'

{}``'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just
at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both an
orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.'

{}```That is quite correct,' I answered; `but you will excuse me
if I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional
qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter
that you wished to speak to me?'

{}``'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to
the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute
secrecy is quite essential\mdsh{---}absolute secrecy, you understand,
and of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than
from one who lives in the bosom of his family.'

{}```If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, `you may absolutely
depend upon my doing so.'

{}``He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that
I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye.

{}```Do you promise, then?' said he at last.

{}```Yes, I promise.'

{}``'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No
reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?'

{}```I have already given you my word.'

{}```Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning
across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was empty.

{}```That's all right,' said he, coming back. `I know the clerks
are sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk
in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to stare
at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look.

{}``A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun
to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. Even
my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from showing my
impatience.

{}```I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; `my time
is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the words
came to my lips.

{}```How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked.

{}```Most admirably.'

{}```I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark.
I simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which
has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon set
it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as that?'

{}```The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.'

{}```Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last
train.'

{}```Where to?'

{}```To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders
of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a train
from Paddington which would bring you there at about 11:15.'

{}```Very good.'

{}```I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.'

{}```There is a drive, then?'

{}```Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good
seven miles from Eyford Station.'

{}```Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there
would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop
the night.'

{}```Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.'

{}```That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient
hour?'

{}```We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to recompense
you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a young and unknown
man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the very heads of your
profession. Still, of course, if you would like to draw out of the
business, there is plenty of time to do so.'

{}``I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they would
be to me. `Not at all,' said I, `I shall be very happy to accommodate
myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to understand a little
more clearly what it is that you wish me to do.'

{}```Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which
we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I have
no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid
before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from eavesdroppers?'

{}```Entirely.'

{}```Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that fuller's-earth
is a valuable product, and that it is only found in one or two places
in England?'

{}```I have heard so.'

{}```Some little time ago I bought a small place\mdsh{---}a very
small place\mdsh{---}within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate
enough to discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one
of my fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit
was a comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two
very much larger ones upon the right and left\mdsh{---}both of them,
however, in the grounds of my neighbors. These good people were absolutely
ignorant that their land contained that which was quite as valuable
as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my interest to buy their land
before they discovered its true value, but unfortunately I had no
capital by which I could do this. I took a few of my friends into
the secret, however, and they suggested that we should quietly and
secretly work our own little deposit and that in this way we should
earn the money which would enable us to buy the neighboring fields.
This we have now been doing for some time, and in order to help us
in our operations we erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have
already explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon
the subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it
once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our little
house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts came out,
it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these fields and carrying
out our plans. That is why I have made you promise me that you will
not tell a human being that you are going to Eyford to-night. I hope
that I make it all plain?'

{}```I quite follow you,' said I. `The only point which I could not
quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press
in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out like
gravel from a pit.'

{}```Ah!' said he carelessly, `we have our own process. We compress
the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing what
they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully into my
confidence now, Mr.\ Hatherley, and I have shown you how I trust
you.' He rose as he spoke. `I shall expect you, then, at Eyford at
11:15.'

{}```I shall certainly be there.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-engr-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Not a word to a soul!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long,
questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank grasp,
he hurried from the room.

{}``Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very
much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission
which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was
glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked had
I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that this
order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face and manner
of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon me, and I could
not think that his explanation of the fuller's-earth was sufficient
to explain the necessity for my coming at midnight, and his extreme
anxiety lest I should tell anyone of my errand. However, I threw all
fears to the winds, ate a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and
started off, having obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding
my tongue.

{}``At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station.
However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I reached
the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the only passenger
who got out there, and there was no one upon the platform save a single
sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed out through the wicket gate,
however, I found my acquaintance of the morning waiting in the shadow
upon the other side. Without a word he grasped my arm and hurried
me into a carriage, the door of which was standing open. He drew up
the windows on either side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went
as fast as the horse could go.''

{}``One horse?'' interjected Holmes.

{}``Yes, only one.''

{}``Did you observe the color?''

{}``Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the
carriage. It was a chestnut.''

{}``Tired-looking or fresh?''

{}``Oh, fresh and glossy.''

{}``Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue
your most interesting statement.''

{}``Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel
Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I should
think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the time that
we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at my side in
silence all the time, and I was aware, more than once when I glanced
in his direction, that he was looking at me with great intensity.
The country roads seem to be not very good in that part of the world,
for we lurched and jolted terribly. I tried to look out of the windows
to see something of where we were, but they were made of frosted glass,
and I could make out nothing save the occasional bright blur of a
passing light. Now and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony
of the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and
the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the
road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, and
the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang out, and,
as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch which gaped
in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of the carriage
and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the most fleeting glance
of the front of the house. The instant that I had crossed the threshold
the door slammed heavily behind us, and I heard faintly the rattle
of the wheels as the carriage drove away.

{}``It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled about
looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Suddenly a door
opened at the other end of the passage, and a long, golden bar of
light shot out in our direction. It grew broader, and a woman appeared
with a lamp in her hand, which she held above her head, pushing her
face forward and peering at us. I could see that she was pretty, and
from the gloss with which the light shone upon her dark dress I knew
that it was a rich material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue
in a tone as though asking a question, and when my companion answered
in a gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly
fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered something
in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room from whence she
had come, he walked towards me again with the lamp in his hand.

{}``'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for
a few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a quiet,
little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the centre,
on which several German books were scattered. Colonel Stark laid down
the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the door. `I shall not keep
you waiting an instant,' said he, and vanished into the darkness.

{}``I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my ignorance
of German I could see that two of them were treatises on science,
the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked across to the window,
hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the country-side, but an
oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded across it. It was a wonderfully
silent house. There was an old clock ticking loudly somewhere in the
passage, but otherwise everything was deadly still. A vague feeling
of uneasiness began to steal over me. Who were these German people,
and what were they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place?
And where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was
all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no idea.
For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, were within
that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, after all. Yet
it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, that we were in
the country. I paced up and down the room, humming a tune under my
breath to keep up my spirits and feeling that I was thoroughly earning
my fifty-guinea fee.

{}``Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the utter
stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman was standing
in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind her, the yellow light
from my lamp beating upon her eager and beautiful face. I could see
at a glance that she was sick with fear, and the sight sent a chill
to my own heart. She held up one shaking finger to warn me to be silent,
and she shot a few whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes
glancing back, like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind
her.

{}```I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to speak
calmly; `I would go. I should not stay here. There is no good for
you to do.'

{}```But, madam,' said I, `I have not yet done what I came for. I
cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.'

{}```It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. `You can pass
through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled
and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and made
a step forward, with her hands wrung together. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-engr-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Get away from here before
it is too late!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
`For the love of Heaven!' she whispered, `get away from here before
it is too late!'

{}``But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to
engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I thought
of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of the unpleasant
night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to go for nothing?
Why should I slink away without having carried out my commission,
and without the payment which was my due? This woman might, for all
I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout bearing, therefore, though her
manner had shaken me more than I cared to confess, I still shook my
head and declared my intention of remaining where I was. She was about
to renew her entreaties when a door slammed overhead, and the sound
of several footsteps was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an
instant, threw up her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished
as suddenly and as noiselessly as she had come.

{}``The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man
with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chin,
who was introduced to me as Mr.\ Ferguson.

{}```This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. `By the
way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just now.
I fear that you have felt the draught.'

{}```On the contrary,' said I, `I opened the door myself because
I felt the room to be a little close.'

{}``He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. `Perhaps we had better
proceed to business, then,' said he. `Mr.\ Ferguson and I will take
you up to see the machine.'

{}```I had better put my hat on, I suppose.'

{}```Oh, no, it is in the house.'

{}```What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?'

{}``'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that.
All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us know
what is wrong with it.'

{}``We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the
fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house,
with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little low
doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the generations
who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no signs of any furniture
above the ground floor, while the plaster was peeling off the walls,
and the damp was breaking through in green, unhealthy blotches. I
tried to put on as unconcerned an air as possible, but I had not forgotten
the warnings of the lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept
a keen eye upon my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose
and silent man, but I could see from the little that he said that
he was at least a fellow-countryman.

{}``Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which
he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three of
us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, and the
colonel ushered me in.

{}```We are now,' said he, `actually within the hydraulic press,
and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were
to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the end
of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of many
tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns of water
outside which receive the force, and which transmit and multiply it
in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine goes readily enough,
but there is some stiffness in the working of it, and it has lost
a little of its force. Perhaps you will have the goodness to look
it over and to show us how we can set it right.'

{}``I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very thoroughly.
It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of exercising enormous pressure.
When I passed outside, however, and pressed down the levers which
controlled it, I knew at once by the whishing sound that there was
a slight leakage, which allowed a regurgitation of water through one
of the side cylinders. An examination showed that one of the india-rubber
bands which was round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not
quite to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the
cause of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions,
who followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical
questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I had
made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the machine
and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. It was obvious
at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth was the merest fabrication,
for it would be absurd to suppose that so powerful an engine could
be designed for so inadequate a purpose. The walls were of wood, but
the floor consisted of a large iron trough, and when I came to examine
it I could see a crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped
and was scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a
muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the
colonel looking down at me.

{}```What are you doing there?' he asked.

{}``I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as
that which he had told me. `I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' said
I; `I think that I should be better able to advise you as to your
machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it was used.'

{}``The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness
of my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in
his gray eyes.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-engr-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small I rushed to the door.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Very well,' said he, `you shall know all about the machine.'
He took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key
in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it
was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and shoves.
`Hello!' I yelled. `Hello! Colonel! Let me out!'

{}``And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my
heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish
of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp still
stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the trough.
By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming down upon me,
slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than myself, with a force
which must within a minute grind me to a shapeless pulp. I threw myself,
screaming, against the door, and dragged with my nails at the lock.
I implored the colonel to let me out, but the remorseless clanking
of the levers drowned my cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two
above my head, and with my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough
surface. Then it flashed through my mind that the pain of my death
would depend very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay
on my face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to
think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and yet,
had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black shadow wavering
down upon me? Already I was unable to stand erect, when my eye caught
something which brought a gush of hope back to my heart.

{}``I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the
walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw
a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which broadened
and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For an instant
I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door which led away
from death. The next instant I threw myself through, and lay half-fainting
upon the other side. The panel had closed again behind me, but the
crash of the lamp, and a few moments afterwards the clang of the two
slabs of metal, told me how narrow had been my escape.

{}``I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and
I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, while
a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, while she
held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend whose warning
I had so foolishly rejected.

{}```Come!\ come!'\ she cried breathlessly. `They will be here
in a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste
the so-precious time, but come!'

{}``This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered
to my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding
stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we reached
it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of two voices,
one answering the other from the floor on which we were and from the
one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about her like one who is
at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door which led into a bedroom,
through the window of which the moon was shining brightly.

{}```It is your only chance,' said she. `It is high, but it may be
that you can jump it.'

{}``As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the
passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark rushing
forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a butcher's cleaver
in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, flung open the window,
and looked out. How quiet and sweet and wholesome the garden looked
in the moonlight, and it could not be more than thirty feet down.
I clambered out upon the sill, but I hesitated to jump until I should
have heard what passed between my saviour and the ruffian who pursued
me. If she were ill-used, then at any risks I was determined to go
back to her assistance. The thought had hardly flashed through my
mind before he was at the door, pushing his way past her; but she
threw her arms round him and tried to hold him back.

{}```Fritz!\ Fritz!'\ she cried in English, `remember your promise
after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be silent!
Oh, he will be silent!'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-engr-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He cut at me.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```You are mad, Elise!'\ he shouted, struggling to break away
from her. `You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me
pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the window,
cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and was hanging
by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was conscious of a
dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the garden below.

{}``I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up
and rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I understood
that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, however, as
I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. I glanced down
at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and then, for the first
time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and that the blood was pouring
from my wound. I endeavored to tie my handkerchief round it, but there
came a sudden buzzing in my ears, and next moment I fell in a dead
faint among the rose-bushes.

{}``How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been
a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was
breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with dew,
and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded thumb.
The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the particulars of my
night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with the feeling that I
might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But to my astonishment,
when I came to look round me, neither house nor garden were to be
seen. I had been lying in an angle of the hedge close by the highroad,
and just a little lower down was a long building, which proved, upon
my approaching it, to be the very station at which I had arrived upon
the previous night. Were it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all
that had passed during those dreadful hours might have been an evil
dream.

{}``Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning
train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The same
porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I arrived. I inquired
of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel Lysander Stark. The name
was strange to him. Had he observed a carriage the night before waiting
for me? No, he had not. Was there a police-station anywhere near?
There was one about three miles off.

{}``It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined
to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the police.
It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first to have my
wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to bring me along
here. I put the case into your hands and shall do exactly what you
advise.''

We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to this
extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down from the
shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he placed his
cuttings.

{}``Here is an advertisement which will interest you,'' said he.
{}``It appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this:
`Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr.\ Jeremiah Hayling, aged twenty-six,
a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten o'clock at night, and
has not been heard of since. Was dressed in,' \textit{etc}., \textit{etc}.
Ha! That represents the last time that the colonel needed to have
his machine overhauled, I fancy.''

{}``Good heavens!''\ cried my patient. {}``Then that explains
what the girl said.''

{}``Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and
desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should stand
in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out pirates who
will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, every moment now
is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall go down to Scotland
Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for Eyford.''

Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train together,
bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. There were Sherlock
Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Bradstreet, of Scotland
Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance
map of the county out upon the seat and was busy with his compasses
drawing a circle with Eyford for its centre.

{}``There you are,'' said he. {}``That circle is drawn at a radius
of ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere
near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir.''

{}``It was an hour's good drive.''

{}``And you think that they brought you back all that way when you
were unconscious?''

{}``They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having
been lifted and conveyed somewhere.''

{}``What I cannot understand,'' said I, {}``is why they should
have spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden.
Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties.''

{}``I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face
in my life.''

{}``Oh, we shall soon clear up all that,'' said Bradstreet. {}``Well,
I have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon
it the folk that we are in search of are to be found.''

{}``I think I could lay my finger on it,'' said Holmes quietly.

{}``Really, now!''\ cried the inspector, {}``you have formed your
opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is
south, for the country is more deserted there.''

{}``And I say east,'' said my patient.

{}``I am for west,'' remarked the plain-clothes man. {}``There
are several quiet little villages up there.''

{}``And I am for north,'' said I, {}``because there are no hills
there, and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go
up any.''

{}``Come,'' cried the inspector, laughing; {}``it's a very pretty
diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do you
give your casting vote to?''

{}``You are all wrong.''

{}``But we can't all be.''

{}``Oh, yes, you can. This is my point.'' He placed his finger in
the centre of the circle. {}``This is where we shall find them.''

{}``But the twelve-mile drive?'' gasped Hatherley.

{}``Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that
the horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that
if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?''

{}``Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough,'' observed Bradstreet thoughtfully.
{}``Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature of this gang.''

{}``None at all,'' said Holmes. {}``They are coiners on a large
scale, and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken
the place of silver.''

{}``We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work,''
said the inspector. {}``They have been turning out half-crowns by
the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could get
no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that showed
that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this lucky chance,
I think that we have got them right enough.''

But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not destined
to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Eyford Station
we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed up from behind a
small clump of trees in the neighborhood and hung like an immense
ostrich feather over the landscape.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-engr-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``A house on fire?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``A house on fire?'' asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off
again on its way.

{}``Yes, sir!'' said the station-master.

{}``When did it break out?''

{}``I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse,
and the whole place is in a blaze.''

{}``Whose house is it?''

{}``Dr.\ Becher's.''

{}``Tell me,'' broke in the engineer, {}``is Dr.\ Becher a German,
very thin, with a long, sharp nose?''

The station-master laughed heartily. {}``No, sir, Dr.\ Becher is
an Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a better-lined
waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, a patient, as
I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as if a little good
Berkshire beef would do him no harm.''

The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all
hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low hill,
and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in front of
us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in the garden in
front three fire-engines were vainly striving to keep the flames under.

{}``That's it!''\ cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. {}``There
is the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That
second window is the one that I jumped from.''

{}``Well, at least,'' said Holmes, {}``you have had your revenge
upon them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which,
when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, though
no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to observe it
at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for your friends
of last night, though I very much fear that they are a good hundred
miles off by now.''

And Holmes's fears came to be realized, for from that day to this
no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the sinister
German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a peasant had
met a cart containing several people and some very bulky boxes driving
rapidly in the direction of Reading, but there all traces of the fugitives
disappeared, and even Holmes's ingenuity failed ever to discover the
least clew as to their whereabouts.

The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements which
they had found within, and still more so by discovering a newly severed
human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. About sunset,
however, their efforts were at last successful, and they subdued the
flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, and the whole place
been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save some twisted cylinders
and iron piping, not a trace remained of the machinery which had cost
our unfortunate acquaintance so dearly. Large masses of nickel and
of tin were discovered stored in an out-house, but no coins were to
be found, which may have explained the presence of those bulky boxes
which have been already referred to.

How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to the
spot where he recovered his senses might have remained forever a mystery
were it not for the soft mould, which told us a very plain tale. He
had evidently been carried down by two persons, one of whom had remarkably
small feet and the other unusually large ones. On the whole, it was
most probable that the silent Englishman, being less bold or less
murderous than his companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious
man out of the way of danger.

{}``Well,'' said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return
once more to London, {}``it has been a pretty business for me! I
have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what have
I gained?''

{}``Experience,'' said Holmes, laughing. {}``Indirectly it may
be of value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain
the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your
existence.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE NOBLE BACHELOR}

The Lord St.\ Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have long
ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles in which
the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have eclipsed it,
and their more piquant details have drawn the gossips away from this
four-year-old drama. As I have reason to believe, however, that the
full facts have never been revealed to the general public, and as
my friend Sherlock Holmes had a considerable share in clearing the
matter up, I feel that no memoir of him would be complete without
some little sketch of this remarkable episode.

It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I
was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came
home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table waiting
for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather had taken
a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the Jezail bullet
which I had brought back in one of my limbs as a relic of my Afghan
campaign throbbed with dull persistence. With my body in one easy-chair
and my legs upon another, I had surrounded myself with a cloud of
newspapers until at last, saturated with the news of the day, I tossed
them all aside and lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram
upon the envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's
noble correspondent could be.

{}``Here is a very fashionable epistle,'' I remarked as he entered.
{}``Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a fish-monger
and a tide-waiter.''

{}``Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety,''
he answered, smiling, {}``and the humbler are usually the more interesting.
This looks like one of those unwelcome social summonses which call
upon a man either to be bored or to lie.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-nobl-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small He broke the seal and glanced
over the contents.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He broke the seal and glanced over the contents.

{}``Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all.''

{}``Not social, then?''

{}``No, distinctly professional.''

{}``And from a noble client?''

{}``One of the highest in England.''

{}``My dear fellow. I congratulate you.''

{}``I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of
my client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his
case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be wanting
in this new investigation. You have been reading the papers diligently
of late, have you not?''

{}``It looks like it,'' said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle
in the corner. {}``I have had nothing else to do.''

{}``It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up.
I read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The
latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent events
so closely you must have read about Lord St.\ Simon and his wedding?''

{}``Oh, yes, with the deepest interest.''

{}``That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord
St.\ Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn over
these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. This
is what he says:

\begin{quotation}
\noindent {}``'\textit{\emph{\noun{My}}} \emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Dear}}}
\emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Mr}}}\emph{\noun{.\ }}\textit{\emph{\noun{Sherlock}}}
\emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Holmes}}}: \mdsh{---} {}```Lord
Backwater tells me that I may place implicit reliance upon your judgment
and discretion. I have determined, therefore, to call upon you and
to consult you in reference to the very painful event which has occurred
in connection with my wedding. Mr.\ Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is
acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no objection
to your cooperation, and that he even thinks that it might be of some
assistance. I will call at four o'clock in the afternoon, and, should
you have any other engagement at that time, I hope that you will postpone
it, as this matter is of paramount importance. Yours faithfully, \textit{\emph{\noun{St}}}\emph{\noun{.\ }}\textit{\emph{\noun{Simon}}}.'
\end{quotation}
{}

{}``It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen,
and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink upon
the outer side of his right little finger,'' remarked Holmes as he
folded up the epistle.

{}``He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an
hour.''

{}``Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon
the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in their
order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client is.'' He
picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of reference beside
the mantelpiece. {}``Here he is,'' said he, sitting down and flattening
it out upon his knee. {}``Lord Robert Walsingham de Vere St.\ Simon,
second son of the Duke of Balmoral. Hum! Arms: Azure, three caltrops
in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846. He's forty-one years of
age, which is mature for marriage. Was Under-Secretary for the colonies
in a late administration. The Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary
for Foreign Affairs. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent,
and Tudor on the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive
in all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something
more solid.''

{}``I have very little difficulty in finding what I want,'' said
I, {}``for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as
remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew that
you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the intrusion of
other matters.''

{}``Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square furniture
van. That is quite cleared up now\mdsh{---}though, indeed, it was
obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your newspaper
selections.''

{}``Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal
column of the \emph{Morning Post}, and dates, as you see, some weeks
back: `A marriage has been arranged,' it says, `and will, if rumour
is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert St.\ Simon,
second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty Doran, the only
daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.'
That is all.''

{}``Terse and to the point,'' remarked Holmes, stretching his long,
thin legs towards the fire.

{}``There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society papers
of the same week. Ah, here it is: `There will soon be a call for protection
in the marriage market, for the present free-trade principle appears
to tell heavily against our home product. One by one the management
of the noble houses of Great Britain is passing into the hands of
our fair cousins from across the Atlantic. An important addition has
been made during the last week to the list of the prizes which have
been borne away by these charming invaders. Lord St.\ Simon, who
has shown himself for over twenty years proof against the little god's
arrows, has now definitely announced his approaching marriage with
Miss Hatty Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire.
Miss Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much
attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, and
it is currently reported that her dowry will run to considerably over
the six figures, with expectancies for the future. As it is an open
secret that the Duke of Balmoral has been compelled to sell his pictures
within the last few years, and as Lord St.\ Simon has no property
of his own save the small estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that
the Californian heiress is not the only gainer by an alliance which
will enable her to make the easy and common transition from a Republican
lady to a British peeress.'''

{}``Anything else?''\ asked Holmes, yawning.

{}``Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the \emph{Morning
Post} to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that
it would be at St.\ George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen
intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would return
to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been taken by Mr.\ Aloysius
Doran. Two days later\mdsh{---}that is, on Wednesday last\mdsh{---}there
is a curt announcement that the wedding had taken place, and that
the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Backwater's place, near Petersfield.
Those are all the notices which appeared before the disappearance
of the bride.''

{}``Before the what?''\ asked Holmes with a start.

{}``The vanishing of the lady.''

{}``When did she vanish, then?''

{}``At the wedding breakfast.''

{}``Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite
dramatic, in fact.''

{}``Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common.''

{}``They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during
the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt
as this. Pray let me have the details.''

{}``I warn you that they are very incomplete.''

{}``Perhaps we may make them less so.''

{}``Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a
morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is headed,
`Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding':

\begin{quotation}
```The family of Lord Robert St.Simon has been thrown into the greatest
consternation by the strange and painful episodes which have taken
place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as shortly announced
in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the previous morning; but
it is only now that it has been possible to confirm the strange rumours
which have been so persistently floating about. In spite of the attempts
of the friends to hush the matter up, so much public attention has
now been drawn to it that no good purpose can be served by affecting
to disregard what is a common subject for conversation.

```The ceremony, which was performed at St.George's, Hanover Square,
was a very quiet one, no one being present save the father of the
bride, Mr.Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, Lord Backwater,
Lord Eustace, and Lady Clara St.Simon (the younger brother and sister
of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Whittington. The whole party proceeded
afterwards to the house of Mr.Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where
breakfast had been prepared. It appears that some little trouble was
caused by a woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavored
to force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging that
she had some claim upon Lord St.Simon. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-nobl-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small She was ejected by the butler
and the footman.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
It was only after a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected
by the butler and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered
the house before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast
with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and retired
to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some comment, her
father followed her, but learned from her maid that she had only come
up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an ulster and bonnet,
and hurried down to the passage. One of the footmen declared that
he had seen a lady leave the house thus apparelled, but had refused
to credit that it was his mistress, believing her to be with the company.
On ascertaining that his daughter had disappeared, Mr.Aloysius Doran,
in conjunction with the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication
with the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which
will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very singular
business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing had transpired
as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There are rumours of foul
play in the matter, and it is said that the police have caused the
arrest of the woman who had caused the original disturbance, in the
belief that, from jealousy or some other motive, she may have been
concerned in the strange disappearance of the bride.'''
\end{quotation}
{}

{}``And is that all?''

{}``Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it
is a suggestive one.''

{}``And it is\mdsh{---}''

{}``That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance,
has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a danseuse
at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom for some years.
There are no further particulars, and the whole case is in your hands
now\mdsh{---}so far as it has been set forth in the public press.''

{}``And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would
not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, Watson,
and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I have no doubt
that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not dream of going,
Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, if only as a check
to my own memory.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-nobl-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Lord Robert St.\ Simon.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Lord Robert St.\ Simon,'' announced our page-boy, throwing
open the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face,
high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about the
mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose pleasant
lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His manner was brisk,
and yet his general appearance gave an undue impression of age, for
he had a slight forward stoop and a little bend of the knees as he
walked. His hair, too, as he swept off his very curly-brimmed hat,
was grizzled round the edges and thin upon the top. As to his dress,
it was careful to the verge of foppishness, with high collar, black
frock-coat, white waistcoat, yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes,
and light-colored gaiters. He advanced slowly into the room, turning
his head from left to right, and swinging in his right hand the cord
which held his golden eyeglasses.

{}``Good-day, Lord St.\ Simon,'' said Holmes, rising and bowing.
{}``Pray take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague,
Dr. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this matter
over.''

{}``A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine,
Mr.\ Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you
have already managed several delicate cases of this sort sir, though
I presume that they were hardly from the same class of society.''

{}``No, I am descending.''

{}``I beg pardon.''

{}``My last client of the sort was a king.''

{}``Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?''

{}``The King of Scandinavia.''

{}``What! Had he lost his wife?''

{}``You can understand,'' said Holmes suavely, {}``that I extend
to the affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise
to you in yours.''

{}``Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As
to my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may assist
you in forming an opinion.''

{}``Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public prints,
nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct\mdsh{---}this
article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride.''

Lord St.\ Simon glanced over it. {}``Yes, it is correct, as far
as it goes.''

{}``But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could
offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most directly
by questioning you.''

{}``Pray do so.''

{}``When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?''

{}``In San Francisco, a year ago.''

{}``You were travelling in the States?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``Did you become engaged then?''

{}``No.''

{}``But you were on a friendly footing?''

{}``I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was amused.''

{}``Her father is very rich?''

{}``He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope.''

{}``And how did he make his money?''

{}``In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold,
invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds.''

{}``Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's\mdsh{---}your
wife's character?''

The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down into
the fire. {}``You see, Mr.\ Holmes,'' said he, {}``my wife was
twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she ran
free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or mountains, so
that her education has come from Nature rather than from the schoolmaster.
She is what we call in England a tomboy, with a strong nature, wild
and free, unfettered by any sort of traditions. She is impetuous\mdsh{---}volcanic,
I was about to say. She is swift in making up her mind and fearless
in carrying out her resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have
given her the name which I have the honor to bear''---he gave a little
stately cough\mdsh{---}``had not I thought her to be at bottom a
noble woman. I believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice
and that anything dishonorable would be repugnant to her.''

{}``Have you her photograph?''

{}``I brought this with me.'' He opened a locket and showed us the
full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an ivory
miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect of the lustrous
black hair, the large dark eyes, and the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed
long and earnestly at it. Then he closed the locket and handed it
back to Lord St.\ Simon.

{}``The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your acquaintance?''

{}``Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season.
I met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now married
her.''

{}``She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?''

{}``A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family.''

{}``And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a
\emph{fait accompli}?''

{}``I really have made no inquiries on the subject.''

{}``Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before
the wedding?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``Was she in good spirits?''

{}``Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our future
lives.''

{}``Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the wedding?''

{}``She was as bright as possible\mdsh{---}at least until after
the ceremony.''

{}``And did you observe any change in her then?''

{}``Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had
ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident however,
was too trivial to relate and can have no possible bearing upon the
case.''

{}``Pray let us have it, for all that.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-nobl-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small The gentleman in the pew handed
it up to her.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards
the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it fell
over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the gentleman in
the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not appear to be the
worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of the matter, she answered
me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our way home, she seemed absurdly
agitated over this trifling cause.''

{}``Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of
the general public were present, then?''

{}``Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is
open.''

{}``This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?''

{}``No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite
a common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But really
I think that we are wandering rather far from the point.''

{}``Lady St.\ Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less cheerful
frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do on re-entering
her father's house?''

{}``I saw her in conversation with her maid.''

{}``And who is her maid?''

{}``Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California
with her.''

{}``A confidential servant?''

{}``A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed
her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they look
upon these things in a different way.''

{}``How long did she speak to this Alice?''

{}``Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of.''

{}``You did not overhear what they said?''

{}``Lady St.\ Simon said something about `jumping a claim.' She
was accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she meant.''

{}``American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your
wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?''

{}``She walked into the breakfast-room.''

{}``On your arm?''

{}``No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that.
Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose hurriedly,
muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She never came
back.''

{}``But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went
to her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on
a bonnet, and went out.''

{}``Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park
in company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who
had already made a disturbance at Mr.\ Doran's house that morning.''

{}``Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady,
and your relations to her.''

Lord St.\ Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. {}``We
have been on a friendly footing for some years\mdsh{---}I may say
on a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have
not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of complaint
against me, but you know what women are, Mr.\ Holmes. Flora was a
dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and devotedly attached
to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she heard that I was about
to be married, and, to tell the truth, the reason why I had the marriage
celebrated so quietly was that I feared lest there might be a scandal
in the church. She came to Mr.\ Doran's door just after we returned,
and she endeavored to push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions
towards my wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the
possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police fellows
there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. She was quiet
when she saw that there was no good in making a row.''

{}``Did your wife hear all this?''

{}``No, thank goodness, she did not.''

{}``And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?''

{}``Yes. That is what Mr.\ Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon
as so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid
some terrible trap for her.''

{}``Well, it is a possible supposition.''

{}``You think so, too?''

{}``I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon
this as likely?''

{}``I do not think Flora would hurt a fly.''

{}``Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray
what is your own theory as to what took place?''

{}``Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I
have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may say
that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of this
affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a social stride,
had the effect of causing some little nervous disturbance in my wife.''

{}``In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?''

{}``Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back\mdsh{---}I
will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to without
success\mdsh{---}I can hardly explain it in any other fashion.''

{}``Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis,'' said
Holmes, smiling. {}``And now, Lord St.\ Simon, I think that I have
nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the breakfast-table
so that you could see out of the window?''

{}``We could see the other side of the road and the Park.''

{}``Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer.
I shall communicate with you.''

{}``Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem,'' said
our client, rising.

{}``I have solved it.''

{}``Eh? What was that?''

{}``I say that I have solved it.''

{}``Where, then, is my wife?''

{}``That is a detail which I shall speedily supply.''

Lord St.\ Simon shook his head. {}``I am afraid that it will take
wiser heads than yours or mine,'' he remarked, and bowing in a stately,
old-fashioned manner he departed.

{}``It is very good of Lord St.\ Simon to honor my head by putting
it on a level with his own,'' said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. {}``I
think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all this
cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the case before
our client came into the room.''

{}``My dear Holmes!''

{}``I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I remarked
before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination served to
turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial evidence is occasionally
very convincing, as when you find a trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's
example.''

{}``But I have heard all that you have heard.''

{}``Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which serves
me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some years back,
and something on very much the same lines at Munich the year after
the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these cases\mdsh{---}but, hello,
here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! You will find an extra
tumbler upon the sideboard,and there are cigars in the box.''

The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, which
gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a black canvas
bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated himself and lit the
cigar which had been offered to him.

{}``What's up, then?''\ asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye.
{}``You look dissatisfied.''

{}``And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St.\ Simon marriage
case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business.''

{}``Really! You surprise me.''

{}``Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clew seems to slip
through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day.''

{}``And very wet it seems to have made you,'' said Holmes laying
his hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket.

{}``Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine.''

{}``In heaven's name, what for?''

{}``In search of the body of Lady St.\ Simon.''

Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily.

{}``Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?'' he
asked.

{}``Why? What do you mean?''

{}``Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in
the one as in the other.''

Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. {}``I suppose you
know all about it,'' he snarled.

{}``Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up.''

{}``Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part
in the maner?''

{}``I think it very unlikely.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-nobl-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``There,'' said he.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found
this in it?'' He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the
floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin shoes
and a bride's wreath and veil, all discolored and soaked in water.
{}``There,'' said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the top of
the pile. {}``There is a little nut for you to crack, Master Holmes.''

{}``Oh, indeed!'' said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air.
{}``You dragged them from the Serpentine?''

{}``No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper.
They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me that
if the clothes were there the body would not be far off.''

{}``By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found
in the neighborhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope to
arrive at through this?''

{}``At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance.''

{}``I am afraid that you will find it difficult.''

{}``Are you, indeed, now?''\ cried Lestrade with some bitterness.
{}``I am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your
deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as many
minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar.''

{}``And how?''

{}``In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the
card-case is a note. And here is the very note.'' He slapped it down
upon the table in front of him. {}``Listen to this: `You will see
me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all along
has been that Lady St.\ Simon was decoyed away by Flora Millar, and
that she, with confederates, no doubt, was responsible for her disappearance.
Here, signed with her initials, is the very note which was no doubt
quietly slipped into her hand at the door and which lured her within
their reach.''

{}``Very good, Lestrade,'' said Holmes, laughing. {}``You really
are very fine indeed. Let me see it.'' He took up the paper in a
listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he gave
a little cry of satisfaction. {}``This is indeed important,'' said
he.

{}``Ha! you find it so?''

{}``Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly.''

Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. {}``Why,''
he shrieked, {}``you're looking at the wrong side!''

{}``On the contrary, this is the right side.''

{}``The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil
over here.''

{}``And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel bill,
which interests me deeply.''

{}``There's nothing in it. I looked at it before,'' said Lestrade.
{}``'Oct.\ 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s.\ 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch
2s. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that.''

{}``Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the
note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I congratulate
you again.''

{}``I've wasted time enough,'' said Lestrade, rising. {}``I believe
in hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories.
Good-day, Mr.\ Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom
of the matter first.'' He gathered up the garments, thrust them into
the bag, and made for the door.

{}``Just one hint to you, Lestrade,'' drawled Holmes before his
rival vanished; {}``I will tell you the true solution of the matter.
Lady St.\ Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been,
any such person.''

Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, tapped
his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and hurried away.

He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on
his overcoat. {}``There is something in what the fellow says about
outdoor work,'' he remarked, {}``so I think, Watson, that I must
leave you to your papers for a little.''

It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had
no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a confectioner's
man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked with the help of
a youth whom he had brought with him, and presently, to my very great
astonishment, a quite epicurean little cold supper began to be laid
out upon our humble lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of
brace of cold woodcock, a pheasant, a \emph{pate de foie gras} pie
with a group of ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all
these luxuries, my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the
Arabian Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been
paid for and were ordered to this address.

Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the
room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his
eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his conclusions.

{}``They have laid the supper, then,'' he said, rubbing his hands.

{}``You seem to expect company. They have laid for five.''

{}``Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in,'' said he.
{}``I am surprised that Lord St.\ Simon has not already arrived.
Ha! I fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs.''

It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, dangling
his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very perturbed expression
upon his aristocratic features.

{}``My messenger reached you, then?'' asked Holmes.

{}``Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure.
Have you good authority for what you say?''

{}``The best possible.''

Lord St.\ Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his forehead.

{}``What will the Duke say,'' he murmured, {}``when he hears that
one of the family has been subjected to such humiliation?''

{}``It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any humiliation.\ \char`\"{}

{}``Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint.''

{}``I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the
lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of doing
it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she had no one
to advise her at such a crisis.''

{}``It was a slight, sir, a public slight,'' said Lord St.\ Simon,
tapping his fingers upon the table.

{}``You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so unprecedented
a position.''

{}``I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have
been shamefully used.''

{}``I think that I heard a ring,'' said Holmes. {}``Yes, there
are steps on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient
view of the matter, Lord St.\ Simon, I have brought an advocate here
who may be more successful.'' He opened the door and ushered in a
lady and gentleman. {}``Lord St.\ Simon,'' said he {}``allow me
to introduce you to Mr.\ and Mrs.\ Francis Hay Moulton. The lady,
I think, you have already met.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-nobl-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small A picture of offended dignity.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his seat
and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand thrust
into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended dignity.
The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out her hand
to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was as well for
his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was one which it was
hard to resist.

{}``You're angry, Robert,'' said she. {}``Well, I guess you have
every cause to be.''

{}``Pray make no apology to me,'' said Lord St.\ Simon bitterly.

{}``Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I should
have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of rattled, and from
the time when I saw Frank here again I just didn't know what I was
doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't fall down and do a faint right
there before the altar.''

{}``Perhaps, Mrs.\ Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave
the room while you explain this matter?''

{}``If I may give an opinion,'' remarked the strange gentleman,
{}``we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business already.
For my part, I should like all Europe and America to hear the rights
of it.'' He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, clean-shaven, with a
sharp face and alert manner.

{}``Then I'll tell our story right away,'' said the lady. {}``Frank
here and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where
pa was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I;
but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, while
poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to nothing.
The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa wouldn't hear
of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took me away to 'Frisco.
Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so he followed me there,
and he saw me without pa knowing anything about it. It would only
have made him mad to know, so we just fixed it all up for ourselves.
Frank said that he would go and make his pile, too, and never come
back to claim me until he had as much as pa. So then I promised to
wait for him to the end of time and pledged myself not to marry anyone
else while he lived. `Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,'
said he, `and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be
your husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had
fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting,
that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek his
fortune, and I went back to pa.

{}``The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then
he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New Mexico.
After that came a long newspaper story about how a miners' camp had
been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was my Frank's name among
the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was very sick for months after.
Pa thought I had a decline and took me to half the doctors in 'Frisco.
Not a word of news came for a year and more, so that I never doubted
that Frank was really dead. Then Lord St.\ Simon came to 'Frisco,
and we came to London, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very
pleased, but I felt all the time that no man on this earth would ever
take the place in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank.

{}``Still, if I had married Lord St.\ Simon, of course I'd have
done my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our actions.
I went to the altar with him with the intention to make him just as
good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may imagine what I felt
when, just as I came to the altar rails, I glanced back and saw Frank
standing and looking at me out of the first pew. I thought it was
his ghost at first; but when I looked again there he was still, with
a kind of question in his eyes, as if to ask me whether I were glad
or sorry to see him. I wonder I didn't drop. I know that everything
was turning round, and the words of the clergyman were just like the
buzz of a bee in my ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the
service and make a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and
he seemed to know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to
his lips to tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece
of paper, and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his
pew on the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped
the note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only
a line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so.
Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now
to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct.

{}``When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California,
and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but
to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to
have spoken to Lord St.\ Simon, but it was dreadful hard before his
mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to run away
and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten minutes before
I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of the road. He beckoned
to me and then began walking into the Park. I slipped out, put on
my things, and followed him. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-nobl-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Some woman came talking about
Lord St.\ Simon.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Some woman came talking something or other about Lord St.\ Simon
to me\mdsh{---}seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had
a little secret of his own before marriage also\mdsh{---}but I managed
to get away from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together,
and away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square,
and that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank
had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to 'Frisco,
found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to England, followed
me there, and had come upon me at last on the very morning of my second
wedding.''

{}``I saw it in a paper,'' explained the American. {}``It gave
the name and the church but not where the lady lived.''

{}``Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all
for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I should
like to vanish away and never see any of them again\mdsh{---}just
sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It was
awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting round that
breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So Frank took my
wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of them, so that I should
not be traced, and dropped them away somewhere where no one could
find them. It is likely that we should have gone on to Paris to-morrow,
only that this good gentleman, Mr.\ Holmes, came round to us this
evening, though how he found us is more than I can think, and he showed
us very clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right,
and that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so
secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord St.\ Simon
alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at once. Now,
Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if I have given
you pain, and I hope that you do not think very meanly of me.''

Lord St.\ Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but had
listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this long narrative.

{}``Excuse me,'' he said, {}``but it is not my custom to discuss
my most intimate personal affairs in this public manner.''

{}``Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?''

{}``Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure.'' He put out
his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him.

{}``I had hoped,'' suggested Holmes, {}``that you would have joined
us in a friendly supper.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-nobl-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I will wish you all a very
good-night.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I think that there you ask a little too much,'' responded his
Lordship. {}``I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent developments,
but I can hardly be expected to make merry over them. I think that
with your permission I will now wish you all a very good-night.''
He included us all in a sweeping bow and stalked out of the room.

{}``Then I trust that you at least will honor me with your company,''
said Sherlock Holmes. {}``It is always a joy to meet an American,
Mr.\ Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the folly of
a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone years will
not prevent our children from being some day citizens of the same
world-wide country under a flag which shall be a quartering of the
Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes.''

{}``The case has been an interesting one,'' remarked Holmes when
our visitors had left us, {}``because it serves to show very clearly
how simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight
seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural than
the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing stranger
than the result when viewed, for instance by Mr.\ Lestrade, of Scotland
Yard.''

{}``You were not yourself at fault at all, then?''

{}``From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that
the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, the
other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of returning
home. Obviously something had occurred during the morning, then, to
cause her to change her mind. What could that something be? She could
not have spoken to anyone when she was out, for she had been in the
company of the bridegroom. Had she seen someone, then? If she had,
it must be someone from America because she had spent so short a time
in this country that she could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire
so deep an influence over her that the mere sight of him would induce
her to change her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived,
by a process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an
American. Then who could this American be, and why should he possess
so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might be a husband.
Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in rough scenes and under
strange conditions. So far I had got before I ever heard Lord St.\ Simon's
narrative. When he told us of a man in a pew, of the change in the
bride's manner, of so transparent a device for obtaining a note as
the dropping of a bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid,
and of her very significant allusion to claim-jumping\mdsh{---}which
in miners' parlance means taking possession of that which another
person has a prior claim to\mdsh{---}the whole situation became absolutely
clear. She had gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover
or was a previous husband\mdsh{---}the chances being in favor of
the latter.''

{}``And how in the world did you find them?''

{}``It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held information
in his hands the value of which he did not himself know. The initials
were, of course, of the highest importance, but more valuable still
was it to know that within a week he had settled his bill at one of
the most select London hotels.''

{}``How did you deduce the select?''

{}``By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eight-pence
for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive hotels.
There are not many in London which charge at that rate. In the second
one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I learned by an inspection
of the book that Francis H.\ Moulton, an American gentleman, had
left only the day before, and on looking over the entries against
him, I came upon the very items which I had seen in the duplicate
bill. His letters were to be forwarded to 226 Gordon Square; so thither
I travelled, and being fortunate enough to find the loving couple
at home, I ventured to give them some paternal advice and to point
out to them that it would be better in every way that they should
make their position a little clearer both to the general public and
to Lord St.\ Simon in particular. I invited them to meet him here,
and, as you see, I made him keep the appointment.''

{}``But with no very good result,'' I remarked. {}``His conduct
was certainly not very gracious.''

{}``Ah, Watson,'' said Holmes, smiling, {}``perhaps you would not
be very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and wedding,
you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fortune.
I think that we may judge Lord St.\ Simon very mercifully and thank
our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in the same position.
Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the only problem we
have still to solve is how to while away these bleak autumnal evenings.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE BERYL CORONET}

{}``Holmes,'' said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking
down the street, {}``here is a madman coming along. It seems rather
sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone.''

My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands in
the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It was
a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day before still
lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the wintry sun. Down
the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed into a brown crumbly
band by the traffic, but at either side and on the heaped-up edges
of the foot-paths it still lay as white as when it fell. The gray
pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but was still dangerously slippery,
so that there were fewer passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction
of the Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman
whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention.

He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a massive,
strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was dressed in a
sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hat, neat brown
gaiters, and well-cut pearl-gray trousers. Yet his actions were in
absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress and features, for he was
running hard, with occasional little springs, such as a weary man
gives who is little accustomed to set any tax upon his legs. As he
ran he jerked his hands up and down, waggled his head, and writhed
his face into the most extraordinary contortions.

{}``What on earth can be the matter with him?'' I asked. {}``He
is looking up at the numbers of the houses.''

{}``I believe that he is coming here,'' said Holmes, rubbing his
hands.

{}``Here?''

{}``Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally.
I think that I recognize the symptoms. Ha!\ did I not tell you?''
As he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and
pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the clanging.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small With look of grief and despair.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still gesticulating,
but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in his eyes that our
smiles were turned in an instant to horror and pity. For a while he
could not get his words out, but swayed his body and plucked at his
hair like one who has been driven to the extreme limits of his reason.
Then, suddenly springing to his feet, he beat his head against the
wall with such force that we both rushed upon him and tore him away
to the centre of the room. Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the
easy-chair and, sitting beside him, patted his hand and chatted with
him in the easy, soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ.

{}``You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?'' said
he. {}``You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have
recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into any
little problem which you may submit to me.''

The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting against
his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his brow, set his
lips tight, and turned his face towards us.

{}``No doubt you think me mad?'' said he.

{}``I see that you have had some great trouble,'' responded Holmes.

{}``God knows I have!\mdsh{---}a trouble which is enough to unseat
my reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might
have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet borne
a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; but the
two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have been enough
to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. The very noblest
in the land may suffer unless some way be found out of this horrible
affair.''

{}``Pray compose yourself, sir,'' said Holmes, {}``and let me have
a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen you.''

{}``My name,'' answered our visitor, {}``is probably familiar to
your ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder \&
Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street.''

The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior partner
in the second largest private banking concern in the City of London.
What could have happened, then, to bring one of the foremost citizens
of London to this most pitiable pass? We waited, all curiosity, until
with another effort he braced himself to tell his story.

{}``I feel that time is of value,'' said he; {}``that is why I
hastened here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure
your cooperation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and hurried
from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this snow. That
is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who takes very little
exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the facts before you as
shortly and yet as clearly as I can.

{}``It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking
business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative
investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection and
the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means of laying
out money is in the shape of loans, where the security is unimpeachable.
We have done a good deal in this direction during the last few years,
and there are many noble families to whom we have advanced large sums
upon the security of their pictures, libraries, or plate.

{}``Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when
a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I
saw the name, for it was that of none other than\mdsh{---}well, perhaps
even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name which
is a household word all over the earth\mdsh{---}one of the highest,
noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the honor
and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged at once
into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry quickly through
a disagreeable task.

{}```Mr.\ Holder,' said he, `I have been informed that you are in
the habit of advancing money.'

{}```The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered.

{}```It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, `that I should have
\pounds{}50,000 at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a
sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it a
matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my position
you can readily understand that it is unwise to place one's self under
obligations.'

{}```For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked.

{}```Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most
certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you think
it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the money
should be paid at once.'

{}```I should be happy to advance it without further parley from
my own private purse,' said I, `were it not that the strain would
be rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to
do it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must
insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution should
be taken.'

{}```I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a square,
black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. `You have doubtless
heard of the Beryl Coronet?'

{}```One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,'
said I.

{}```Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft,
flesh-colored velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery which
he had named. `There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said he, `and
the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The lowest estimate
would put the worth of the coronet at double the sum which I have
asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my security.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I took the precious case.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some perplexity
from it to my illustrious client.

{}```You doubt its value?' he asked.

{}```Not at all. I only doubt \mdsh{---}'

{}``'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest
about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely
certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a
pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?'

{}```Ample.'

{}```You understand, Mr.\ Holder, that I am giving you a strong
proof of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that
I have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to
refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to preserve
this coronet with every possible precaution because I need not say
that a great public scandal would be caused if any harm were to befall
it. Any injury to it would be almost as serious as its complete loss,
for there are no beryls in the world to match these, and it would
be impossible to replace them. I leave it with you, however, with
every confidence, and I shall call for it in person on Monday morning.'

{}``Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but,
calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 pound
notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the precious case
lying upon the table in front of me, I could not but think with some
misgivings of the immense responsibility which it entailed upon me.
There could be no doubt that, as it was a national possession, a horrible
scandal would ensue if any misfortune should occur to it. I already
regretted having ever consented to take charge of it. However, it
was too late to alter the matter now, so I locked it up in my private
safe and turned once more to my work.

{}``When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave
so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had been
forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how terrible
would be the position in which I should find myself! I determined,
therefore, that for the next few days I would always carry the case
backward and forward with me, so that it might never be really out
of my reach. With this intention, I called a cab and drove out to
my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel with me. I did not breathe
freely until I had taken it upstairs and locked it in the bureau of
my dressing-room.

{}``And now a word as to my household, Mr.\ Holmes, for I wish you
to thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep
out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three maid-servants
who have been with me a number of years and whose absolute reliability
is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Parr, the second waiting-maid,
has only been in my service a few months. She came with an excellent
character, however, and has always given me satisfaction. She is a
very pretty girl and has attracted admirers who have occasionally
hung about the place. That is the only drawback which we have found
to her, but we believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way.

{}``So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it
will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an only
son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr.\ Holmes\mdsh{---}a
grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am myself to blame.
People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very likely I have. When my
dear wife died I felt that he was all I had to love. I could not bear
to see the smile fade even for a moment from his face. I have never
denied him a wish. Perhaps it would have been better for both of us
had I been sterner, but I meant it for the best.

{}``It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my
business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, wayward,
and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the handling of
large sums of money. When he was young he became a member of an aristocratic
club, and there, having charming manners, he was soon the intimate
of a number of men with long purses and expensive habits. He learned
to play heavily at cards and to squander money on the turf, until
he had again and again to come to me and implore me to give him an
advance upon his allowance, that he might settle his debts of honor.
He tried more than once to break away from the dangerous company which
he was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir George
Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again.

{}``And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George
Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently
brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could hardly
resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Arthur, a man
of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been everywhere, seen
everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of great personal beauty.
Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far away from the glamour of
his presence, I am convinced from his cynical speech and the look
which I have caught in his eyes that he is one who should be deeply
distrusted. So I think, and so, too, thinks my little Mary, who has
a woman's quick insight into character.

{}``And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but
when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the world
I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my daughter.
She is a sunbeam in my house\mdsh{---}sweet, loving, beautiful, a
wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and gentle
as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know what I could
do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone against my wishes.
Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for he loves her devotedly,
but each time she has refused him. I think that if anyone could have
drawn him into the right path it would have been she, and that his
marriage might have changed his whole life; but now, alas! it is too
late\mdsh{---}forever too late!

{}``Now, Mr.\ Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof,
and I shall continue with my miserable story.

{}``When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after
dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious
treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name of
my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am sure,
left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. Mary and
Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous coronet,
but I thought it better not to disturb it.

{}```Where have you put it?' asked Arthur.

{}```In my own bureau.'

{}```Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the
night.' said he.

{}```It is locked up,' I answered.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Oh, any old key will fit
that bureau.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster
I have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.'

{}``He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little
of what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with
a very grave face.

{}```Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, `can you let
me have \pounds{}200?'

{}```No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. `I have been far too generous
with you in money matters.'

{}```You have been very kind,' said he, `but I must have this money,
or else I can never show my face inside the club again.'

{}```And a very good thing, too!' I cried.

{}```Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonored man,' said
he. `I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money in some
way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try other means.'

{}``I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the month.
`You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which he bowed
and left the room without another word.

{}``When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my treasure
was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go round the house
to see that all was secure\mdsh{---}a duty which I usually leave
to Mary but which I thought it well to perform myself that night.
As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself at the side window of
the hall, which she closed and fastened as I approached.

{}```Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little disturbed,
`did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out to-night?'

{}```Certainly not.'

{}```She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that
she has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that
it is hardly safe and should be stopped.'

{}```You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer
it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?'

{}```Quite sure, dad.'

{}```Then.\ good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom
again, where I was soon asleep.

{}``I am endeavoring to tell you everything, Mr.\ Holmes, which
may have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question
me upon any point which I do not make clear.''

{}``On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid.''

{}``I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be
particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety in
my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. About
two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in the house.
It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an impression
behind it as though a window had gently closed somewhere. I lay listening
with all my ears. Suddenly, to my horror, there was a distinct sound
of footsteps moving softly in the next room. I slipped out of bed,
all palpitating with fear, and peeped round the comer of my dressing-room
door.

{}```Arthur!'\ I screamed, `you villain!\ you thief! How dare you
touch that coronet?'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small At my cry he dropped it.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, dressed
only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the light, holding
the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be wrenching at it, or bending
it with all his strength. At my cry he dropped it from his grasp and
turned as pale as death. I snatched it up and examined it. One of
the gold corners, with three of the beryls in it, was missing.

{}```You blackguard!'\ I shouted, beside myself with rage. `You
have destroyed it! You have dishonored me forever! Where are the jewels
which you have stolen?'

{}```Stolen!'\ he cried.

{}```Yes, thief!'\ I roared, shaking him by the shoulder.

{}```There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he.

{}``'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I
call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to tear
off another piece?'

{}```You have called me names enough,' said he, `I will not stand
it any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, since
you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in the morning
and make my own way in the world.'

{}```You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried half-mad
with grief and rage. `I shall have this matter probed to the bottom.'

{}```You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such
as I should not have thought was in his nature. `If you choose to
call the police, let the police find what they can.'

{}``By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my voice
in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, at the
sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the whole story
and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the ground. I sent the
house-maid for the police and put the investigation into their hands
at once. When the inspector and a constable entered the house, Arthur,
who had stood sullenly with his arms folded, asked me whether it was
my intention to charge him with theft. I answered that it had ceased
to be a private matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined
coronet was national property. I was determined that the law should
have its way in everything.

{}```At least,' said he, `you will not have me arrested at once.
It would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the
house for five minutes.'

{}``'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what
you have stolen,' said I.\ And then, realizing the dreadful position
in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only my
honor but that of one who was far greater than I was at stake; and
that he threatened to raise a scandal which would convulse the nation.
He might avert it all if he would but tell me what he had done with
the three missing stones.

{}```You may as well face the matter,' said I; `you have been caught
in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous.
If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling us
where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.'

{}```Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,
turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened
for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for
it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search
was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of every
portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the gems;
but no trace of them could be found, nor would the wretched boy open
his mouth for all our persuasions and our threats. This morning he
was removed to a cell, and I, after going through all the police formalities,
have hurried round to you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling
the matter. The police have openly confessed that they can at present
make nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think necessary.
I have already offered a reward of \pounds{}1000. My God, what shall
I do! I have lost my honor, my gems, and my son in one night. Oh,
what shall I do!''

He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and
fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got beyond words.

Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows knitted
and his eyes fixed upon the fire.

{}``Do you receive much company?'' he asked.

{}``None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend
of Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No
one else, I think.''

{}``Do you go out much in society?''

{}``Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for
it.''

{}``That is unusual in a young girl.''

{}``She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young.
She is four-and-twenty.''

{}``This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to
her also.''

{}``Terrible! She is even more affected than I.''

{}``You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?''

{}``How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet
in his hands.''

{}``I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder
of the coronet at all injured?''

{}``Yes, it was twisted.''

{}``Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to straighten
it?''

{}``God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me.
But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If his
purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?''

{}``Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie?
His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several singular
points about the case. What did the police think of the noise which
awoke you from your sleep?''

{}``They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his
bedroom door.''

{}``A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door
so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the disappearance
of these gems?''

{}``They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture
in the hope of finding them.''

{}``Have they thought of looking outside the house?''

{}``Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has
already been minutely examined.''

{}``Now, my dear sir,'' said Holmes.\ {}``is it not obvious to
you now that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either
you or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to
you to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider
what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came down
from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, opened your
bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main force a small portion
of it, went off to some other place, concealed three gems out of the
thirty-nine, with such skill that nobody can find them, and then returned
with the other thirty-six into the room in which he exposed himself
to the greatest danger of being discovered. I ask you now, is such
a theory tenable?''

{}``But what other is there?'' cried the banker with a gesture of
despair. {}``If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain
them?''

{}``It is our task to find that out,'' replied Holmes; {}``so now,
if you please, Mr.\ Holder, we will set off for Streatham together,
and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into details.''

My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition,
which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy were
deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I confess that
the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be as obvious as it
did to his unhappy father, but still I had such faith in Holmes's
judgment that I felt that there must be some grounds for hope as long
as he was dissatisfied with the accepted explanation. He hardly spoke
a word the whole way out to the southern suburb, but sat with his
chin upon his breast and his hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the
deepest thought. Our client appeared to have taken fresh heart at
the little glimpse of hope which had been presented to him, and he
even broke into a desultory chat with me over his business affairs.
A short railway journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank,
the modest residence of the great financier.

Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing back
a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a snow-clad
lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates which closed
the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden thicket, which
led into a narrow path between two neat hedges stretching from the
road to the kitchen door, and forming the tradesmen's entrance. On
the left ran a lane which led to the stables, and was not itself within
the grounds at all, being a public, though little used, thoroughfare.
Holmes left us standing at the door and walked slowly all round the
house, across the front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by
the garden behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr.\ Holder
and I went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should
return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and
a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, slim,
with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against the absolute
pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever seen such deadly
paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were bloodless, but her
eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept silently into the room
she impressed me with a greater sense of grief than the banker had
done in the morning, and it was the more striking in her as she was
evidently a woman of strong character, with immense capacity for self-restraint.
%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small She went straight to her uncle.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Disregarding my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed
her hand over his head with a sweet womanly caress.

{}``You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you
not, dad?'' she asked.

{}``No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom.''

{}``But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's instincts
are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will be sorry for
having acted so harshly.''

{}``Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?''

{}``Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should suspect
him.''

{}``How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with
the coronet in his hand?''

{}``Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take
my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say no
more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in prison!''

{}``I shall never let it drop until the gems are found\mdsh{---}never,
Mary! Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences
to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman down
from London to inquire more deeply into it.''

{}``This gentleman?'' she asked, facing round to me.

{}``No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round
in the stable lane now.''

{}``The stable lane?'' She raised her dark eyebrows. {}``What can
he hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, that
you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, that my
cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime.''

{}``I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may
prove it,'' returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the snow
from his shoes. {}``I believe I have the honor of addressing Miss
Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?''

{}``Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up.''

{}``You heard nothing yourself last night?''

{}``Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard that,
and I came down.''

{}``You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you fasten
all the windows?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``Were they all fastened this morning?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked
to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?''

{}``Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and
who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet.''

{}``I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her sweetheart,
and that the two may have planned the robbery.''

{}``But what is the good of all these vague theories,'' cried the
banker impatiently, {}``when I have told you that I saw Arthur with
the coronet in his hands?''

{}``Wait a little, Mr.\ Holder. We must come back to that. About
this girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I
presume?''

{}``Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night
I met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom.''

{}``Do you know him?''

{}``Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round.
His name is Francis Prosper.''

{}``He stood,'' said Holmes, {}``to the left of the door\mdsh{---}that
is to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?''

{}``Yes, he did.''

{}``And he is a man with a wooden leg?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Something like fear sprang up
in the young lady's eyes.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive black
eyes. {}``Why, you are like a magician,'' said she. {}``How do
you know that?'' She smiled, but there was no answering smile in
Holmes's thin, eager face.

{}``I should be very glad now to go upstairs,'' said he. {}``I
shall probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps
I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up.''

He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at the
large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. This he
opened and made a very careful examination of the sill with his powerful
magnifying lens. {}``Now we shall go upstairs,'' said he at last.

The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little chamber,
with a gray carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. Holmes went
to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock.

{}``Which key was used to open it?'' he asked.

{}``That which my son himself in\-d\-i\-c\-a\-t\-ed\mdsh{---}that
of the cupboard of the lumber-room.''

{}``Have you it here?''

{}``That is it on the dressing-table.''

Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau.

{}``It is a noiseless lock,'' said he. {}``It is no wonder that
it did not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We
must have a look at it.'' He opened the case, and taking out the
diadem he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of
the jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that
I have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, where
a corner holding three gems had been torn away.

{}``Now, Mr.\ Holder,'' said Holmes, {}``here is the corner which
corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I
beg that you will break it off.''

The banker recoiled in horror. {}``I should not dream of trying,''
said he.

{}``Then I will.'' Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but
without result. {}``I feel it give a little,'' said he; {}``but,
though I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me
all my time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what
do you think would happen if I did break it, Mr.\ Holder? There would
be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this happened
within a few yards of your bed and that you heard nothing of it?''

{}``I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me.''

{}``But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think,
Miss Holder?''

{}``I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity.''

{}``Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?''

{}``He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt.''

{}``Thank you. We have certainly been favored with extraordinary
luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault if
we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your permission,
Mr.\ Holder, I shall now continue my investigations outside.''

He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any unnecessary
footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an hour or more
he was at work, returning at last with his feet heavy with snow and
his features as inscrutable as ever.

{}``I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr.\ Holder,''
said he; {}``I can serve you best by returning to my rooms.''

{}``But the gems, Mr.\ Holmes. Where are they?''

{}``I cannot tell.''

The banker wrung his hands. {}``I shall never see them again!''
he cried. {}``And my son? You give me hopes?''

{}``My opinion is in no way altered.''

{}``Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was acted
in my house last night?''

{}``If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow morning
between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to make it
clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to act for you,
provided only that I get back the gems, and that you place no limit
on the sum I may draw.''

{}``I would give my fortune to have them back.''

{}``Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then.
Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here again
before evening.''

It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up about
the case, although what his conclusions were was more than I could
even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward journey I endeavored
to sound him upon the point, but he always glided away to some other
topic, until at last I gave it over in despair. It was not yet three
when we found ourselves in our rooms once more. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-bery-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Dressed as a common loafer.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
He hurried to his chamber and was down again in a few minutes dressed
as a common loafer. With his collar turned up, his shiny, seedy coat,
his red cravat, and his worn boots, he was a perfect sample of the
class.

{}``I think that this should do,'' said he, glancing into the glass
above the fireplace. {}``I only wish that you could come with me,
Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in this
matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I shall soon
know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few hours.'' He
cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, sandwiched
it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this rude meal into
his pocket he started off upon his expedition.

I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in excellent
spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his hand. He chucked
it down into a corner and helped himself to a cup of tea.

{}``I only looked in as I passed,'' said he. {}``I am going right
on.''

{}``Where to?''

{}``Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time before
I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be late.''

{}``How are you getting on?''

{}``Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham
since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a very
sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a good deal.
However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get these disreputable
clothes off and return to my highly respectable self.''

I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for satisfaction
than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, and there was
even a touch of color upon his sallow cheeks. He hastened upstairs,
and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the hall door, which told
me that he was off once more upon his congenial hunt.

I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so I
retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away for
days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that his lateness
caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he came in, but
when I came down to breakfast in the morning there he was with a cup
of coffee in one hand and the paper in the other, as fresh and trim
as possible.

{}``You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson,'' said he,
{}``but you remember that our client has rather an early appointment
this morning.''

{}``Why, it is after nine now,'' I answered. {}``I should not be
surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring.''

It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the change
which had come over him, for his face which was naturally of a broad
and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, while his hair seemed
to me at least a shade whiter. He entered with a weariness and lethargy
which was even more painful than his violence of the morning before,
and he dropped heavily into the armchair which I pushed forward for
him.

{}``I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried,'' said
he. {}``Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without
a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonored age.
One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, Mary,
has deserted me.''

{}``Deserted you?''

{}``Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was
empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to her
last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had married my
boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was thoughtless
of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers in this note:

\begin{quotation}
\noindent {}``\textit{`}\textit{\emph{\noun{My}}} \emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{dearest}}}
\emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Uncle}}}:\mdsh{---}I feel that
I have brought trouble upon you, and that if I had acted differently
this terrible misfortune might never have occurred. I cannot, with
this thought in my mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and
I feel that I must leave you forever. Do not worry about my future,
for that is provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for
it will be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in
death, I am ever your loving \textit{\emph{\noun{Mary}}}.'
\end{quotation}
{}``What could she mean by that note, Mr.\ Holmes? Do you think
it points to suicide?''

{}``No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible
solution. I trust, Mr.\ Holder, that you are nearing the end of your
troubles.''

{}``Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr.\ Holmes; you have
learned something! Where are the gems?''

{}``You would not think \pounds{}1000 apiece an excessive sum for
them?''

{}``I would pay ten.''

{}``That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter.
And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Here
is a pen. Better make it out for \pounds{}4000.''

With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes walked
over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of gold with
three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table.

With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up.

{}``You have it!''\ he gasped. {}``I am saved! I am saved!''

The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and he
hugged his recovered gems to his bosom.

{}``There is one other thing you owe, Mr.\ Holder,'' said Sherlock
Holmes rather sternly.

{}``Owe!''\ He caught up a pen. {}``Name the sum, and I will pay
it.''

{}``No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that
noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I should
be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to have one.''

{}``Then it was not Arthur who took them?''

{}``I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not.''

{}``You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him
know that the truth is known.''

{}``He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an interview
with him, and finding that he would not tell me the story, I told
it to him, on which he had to confess that I was right and to add
the very few details which were not yet quite clear to me. Your news
of this morning, however, may open his lips.''

{}``For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary
mystery!''

{}``I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached
it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me
to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding between
Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now fled together.''

{}``My Mary? Impossible!''

{}``It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither
you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you admitted
him into your family circle. He is one of the most dangerous men in
England\mdsh{---}a ruined gambler, an absolutely desperate villain,
a man without heart or conscience. Your niece knew nothing of such
men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he had done to a hundred
before her, she flattered herself that she alone had touched his heart.
The devil knows best what he said, but at least she became his tool
and was in the habit of seeing him nearly every evening.''

{}``I cannot, and I will not, believe it!'' cried the banker with
an ashen face.

{}``I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night.
Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, slipped
down and talked to her lover through the window which leads into the
stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right through the snow, so
long had he stood there. She told him of the coronet. His wicked lust
for gold kindled at the news, and he bent her to his will. I have
no doubt that she loved you, but there are women in whom the love
of a lover extinguishes all other loves, and I think that she must
have been one. She had hardly listened to his instructions when she
saw you coming downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly
and told you about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged
lover, which was all perfectly true.

{}``Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but
he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts.
In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, so
he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin walking
very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared into your
dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment.\ the lad slipped on some
clothes and waited there in the dark to see what would come of this
strange affair. Presently she emerged from the room again, and in
the light of the passage-lamp your son saw that she carried the precious
coronet in her hands. She passed down the stairs, and he, thrilling
with horror, ran along and slipped behind the curtain near your door,
whence he could see what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily
open the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and
then closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close
to where he stood hid behind the curtain.

{}``As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action
without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the instant
that she was gone he realized how crushing a misfortune this would
be for you, and how all-important it was to set it right. He rushed
down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened the window, sprang
out into the snow, and ran down the lane, where he could see a dark
figure in the moonlight. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Arthur caught him.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Sir George Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and
there was a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of
the coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son
struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something suddenly
snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet in his hands,
rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your room, and had just
observed that the coronet had been twisted in the struggle and was
endeavoring to straighten it when you appeared upon the scene.''

{}``Is it possible?'' gasped the banker.

{}``You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when
he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not explain
the true state of affairs without betraying one who certainly deserved
little enough consideration at his hands. He took the more chivalrous
view, however, and preserved her secret.''

{}``And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the coronet,''
cried Mr.\ Holder. {}``Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have been!
And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! The dear
fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the scene of the
struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!'

{}``When I arrived at the house,'' continued Holmes, {}``I at once
went very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in
the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since the
evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost to preserve
impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but found it all
trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, however, at the
far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood and talked with a
man, whose round impressions on one side showed that he had a wooden
leg. I could even tell that they had been disturbed, for the woman
had run back swiftly to the door, as was shown by the deep toe and
light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had waited a little, and then had
gone away. I thought at the time that this might be the maid and her
sweetheart, of whom you had already spoken to me, and inquiry showed
it was so. I passed round the garden without seeing anything more
than random tracks, which I took to be the police; but when I got
into the stable lane a very long and complex story was written in
the snow in front of me.

{}``There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second
double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked
feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the latter
was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the other had run
swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over the depression
of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed after the other. I
followed them up and found they led to the hall window, where Boots
had worn all the snow away while waiting. Then I walked to the other
end, which was a hundred yards or more down the lane. I saw where
Boots had faced round, where the snow was cut up as though there had
been a struggle, and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen,
to show me that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane,
and another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been
hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that
the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clew.

{}``On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember,
the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could
at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the outline
of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in. I was
then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what had occurred.
A man had waited outside the window; someone had brought the gems;
the deed had been overseen by your son; he had pursued the thief;
had struggled with him; they had each tugged at the coronet, their
united strength causing injuries which neither alone could have effected.
He had returned with the prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp
of his opponent. So far I was clear. The question now was, who was
the man and who was it brought him the coronet?

{}``It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible,
whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Now, I knew
that it was not you who had brought it down, so there only remained
your niece and the maids. But if it were the maids, why should your
son allow himself to be accused in their place? There could be no
possible reason. As he loved his cousin, however, there was an excellent
explanation why he should retain her secret\mdsh{---}the more so
as the secret was a disgraceful one. When I remembered that you had
seen her at that window, and how she had fainted on seeing the coronet
again, my conjecture became a certainty.

{}``And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently,
for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must
feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your circle
of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir George Burnwell.
I had heard of him before as being a man of evil reputation among
women. It must have been he who wore those boots and retained the
missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur had discovered him,
he might still flatter himself that he was safe, for the lad could
not say a word without compromising his own family.

{}``Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took next.
I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, managed to
pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that his master had
cut his head the night before, and, finally, at the expense of six
shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of his cast-off shoes. With
these I journeyed down to Streatham and saw that they exactly fitted
the tracks.''

{}``I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening,''
said Mr.\ Holder.

{}``Precisely. It was I.\ I found that I had my man, so I came home
and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to play
then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert scandal,
and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our hands were
tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of course, he denied
everything. But when I gave him every particular that had occurred,
he tried to bluster and took down a life-preserver from the wall.
%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-bery-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I clapped a pistol to his
head.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I knew my man, however, and I clapped a pistol to his head before
he could strike. Then he became a little more reasonable. I told him
that we would give him a price for the stones he held\mdsh{---}\pounds 1000
apiece. That brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown.
`Why, dash it all!' said he, `I've let them go at six hundred for
the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who
had them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off
I set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at \pounds{}1000
apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all was right,
and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after what I may call
a really hard day's work.''

{}``A day which has saved England from a great public scandal,''
said the banker, rising. {}``Sir, I cannot find words to thank you,
but you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your
skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I must
fly to my dear boy to apologize to him for the wrong which I have
done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my very
heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now.''

{}``I think that we may safely say,'' returned Holmes, {}``that
she is wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too,
that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than sufficient
punishment.''


\chapter*{\raggedright ADVENTURE XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES}

\addcontentsline{toc}{chapter}{THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES}

\markboth{The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes}{THE COPPER BEECHES}

{}``To the man who loves art for its own sake,'' remarked Sherlock
Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the \emph{Daily Telegraph},
{}``it is frequently in its least important and lowliest manifestations
that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is pleasant to me to
observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped this truth that in these
little records of our cases which you have been good enough to draw
up, and, I am bound to say, occasionally to embellish, you have given
prominence not so much to the many \emph{causes celebres} and sensational
trials in which I have figured but rather to those incidents which
may have been trivial in themselves, but which have given room for
those faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have
made my special province.''

{}``And yet,'' said I, smiling, {}``I cannot quite hold myself
absolved from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against
my records.''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-01.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Taking up a glowing cinder with
the tongs.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``You have erred, perhaps,'' he observed, taking up a glowing
cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood pipe
which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a disputatious rather
than a meditative mood\mdsh{---}``you have erred perhaps in attempting
to put color and life into each of your statements instead of confining
yourself to the task of placing upon record that severe reasoning
from cause to effect which is really the only notable feature about
the thing.''

{}``It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter,''
I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism which
I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my friend's
singular character.

{}``No, it is not selfishness or conceit,'' said he, answering,
as was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. {}``If I claim
full justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing\mdsh{---}a
thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it
is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.
You have degraded what should have been a course of lectures into
a series of tales.''

It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after breakfast
on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at Baker Street. A
thick fog rolled down between the lines of dun-colored houses, and
the opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the
heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and shone on the white cloth
and glimmer of china and metal, for the table had not been cleared
yet. Sherlock Holmes had been silent all the morning, dipping continuously
into the advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at
last, having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no
very sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings.

{}``At the same time,'' he remarked after a pause, during which
he had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire,
{}``you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out
of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself
in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, at
all. The small matter in which I endeavored to help the King of Bohemia,
the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the problem connected
with the man with the twisted lip, and the incident of the noble bachelor,
were all matters which are outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding
the sensational, I fear that you may have bordered on the trivial.''

{}``The end may have been so,'' I answered, {}``but the methods
I hold to have been novel and of interest.''

{}``Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant
public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a compositor
by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction!
But, indeed, if you are trivial. I cannot blame you, for the days
of the great cases are past. Man, or at least criminal man, has lost
all enterprise and originality. As to my own little practice, it seems
to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils
and giving advice to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that
I have touched bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning
marks my zero-point, I fancy. Read it!'' He tossed a crumpled letter
across to me.

It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ran
thus:

\begin{quotation}
\noindent {}``\textit{\emph{\noun{Dear}}} \emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Mr}}}\emph{\noun{.\ }}\textit{\emph{\noun{Holmes}}}:\mdsh{---}I
am very anxious to consult you as to whether I should or should not
accept a situation which has been offered to me as governess. I shall
call at half-past ten to-morrow if I do not inconvenience you. Yours
faithfully, \textit{\emph{\noun{Violet}}} \emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Hunter}}}.''
\end{quotation}
{}``Do you know the young lady?'' I asked.

{}``Not I.''

{}``It is half-past ten now.''

{}``Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring.''

{}``It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You remember
that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to be a mere
whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. It may be so
in this case, also.''

{}``Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved,
for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question.''

As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. She
was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, freckled
like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a woman who has
had her own way to make in the world.

{}``You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure,'' said she, as
my companion rose to greet her, {}``but I have had a very strange
experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort from
whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be kind
enough to tell me what I should do.''

{}``Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything
that I can to serve you.''

I could see that Holmes was favorably impressed by the manner and
speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching fashion,
and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and his finger-tips
together, to listen to her story.

{}``I have been a governess for five years,'' said she, {}``in
the family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel
received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his children
over to America with him, so that I found myself without a situation.
I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but without success.
At last the little money which I had saved began to run short, and
I was at my wit's end as to what I should do.

{}``There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End
called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in order
to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. Westaway
was the name of the founder of the business, but it is really managed
by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and the ladies
who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, and are then shown
in one by one, when she consults her ledgers and sees whether she
has anything which would suit them.

{}``Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office
as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A prodigiously
stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled
down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at her elbow with a pair
of glasses on his nose, looking very earnestly at the ladies who entered.
As I came in he gave quite a jump in his chair and turned quickly
to Miss Stoper.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-02.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Capital!''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```That will do,' said he; `I could not ask for anything better.
Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his hands
together in the most genial fashion. He was such a comfortable-looking
man that it was quite a pleasure to look at him.

{}```You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked.

{}```Yes, sir.'

{}```As governess?'

{}```Yes, sir.'

{}```And what salary do you ask?'

{}``'I had \pounds{}4 a month in my last place with Colonel Spence
Munro.'

{}```Oh, tut, tut! sweating\mdsh{---}rank sweating!' he cried, throwing
his fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling passion.
`How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with such attractions
and accomplishments?'

{}```My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said
I. `A little French, a little German, music, and drawing\mdsh{---}'

{}```Tut, tut!' he cried. `This is all quite beside the question.
The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment
of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are not
fined for the rearing of a child who may some day play a considerable
part in the history of the country. But if you have why, then, how
could any gentleman ask you to condescend to accept anything under
the three figures? Your salary with me, madam, would commence at \pounds{}100
a year.'

{}``You may imagine, Mr.\ Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was,
such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, however,
seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, opened a pocket-book
and took out a note.

{}```It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant
fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid the
white creases of his face, `to advance to my young ladies half their
salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little expenses of their
journey and their wardrobe.'

{}``It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so thoughtful
a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the advance was a
great convenience, and yet there was something unnatural about the
whole transaction which made me wish to know a little more before
I quite committed myself.

{}```May I ask where you live, sir?' said I.

{}```Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles
on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my dear
young lady, and the dearest old country-house.'

{}```And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would
be.'

{}```One child\mdsh{---}one dear little romper just six years old.
Oh, if you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack!
smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back in
his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again.

{}``I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement,
but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was joking.

{}```My sole duties, then,' I asked, `are to take charge of a single
child?'

{}```No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he
cried. `Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would suggest,
to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided always that
they were such commands as a lady might with propriety obey. You see
no difficulty, heh?'

{}```I should be happy to make myself useful.'

{}```Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you
know\mdsh{---}faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any
dress which we might give you, you would not object to our little
whim. Heh?'

{}```No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words.

{}```Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to
you?'

{}```Oh, no.'

{}```Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?'

{}``I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr.\ Holmes,
my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of chestnut.
It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of sacrificing
it in this offhand fashion.

{}```I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I.\ He had
been watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a
shadow pass over his face as I spoke.

{}```I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. `It is a little
fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, ladies'
fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your hair?'

{}```No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly.

{}```Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a pity,
because in other respects you would really have done very nicely.
In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more of your young
ladies.'

{}``The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers without
a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so much annoyance
upon her face that I could not help suspecting that she had lost a
handsome commission through my refusal.

{}```Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked.

{}```If you please, Miss Stoper.'

{}```Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the
most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. `You can
hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such opening for
you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong upon the table,
and I was shown out by the page.

{}``Well, Mr.\ Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found
little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the table.
I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very foolish thing.
After all, if these people had strange fads and expected obedience
on the most extraordinary matters, they were at least ready to pay
for their eccentricity. Very few governesses in England are getting
\pounds 100 a year. Besides, what use was my hair to me? Many people
are improved by wearing it short and perhaps I should be among the
number. Next day I was inclined to think that I had made a mistake,
and by the day after I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride
so far as to go back to the agency and inquire whether the place was
still open when I received this letter from the gentleman himself.
I have it here and I will read it to you:

\begin{quotation}
\begin{flushright}{}```\noun{The Copper Beeches,}\\
\noun{near Winchester.}\end{flushright}

\noindent {}```\textit{\emph{\noun{Dear}}} \emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Miss}}}
\emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Hunter}}}:\mdsh{---}

{}```Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your address, and I write
from here to ask you whether you have reconsidered your decision.
My wife is very anxious that you should come, for she has been much
attracted by my description of you. We are willing to give \pounds 30
a quarter, or \pounds 120 a year, so as to recompense you for any
little inconvenience which our fads may cause you. They are not very
exacting, after all. My wife is fond of a particular shade of electric
blue and would like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning.
You need not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we
have one belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia),
which would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting
here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that need
cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no doubt a
pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty during our
short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain firm upon this
point, and I only hope that the increased salary may recompense you
for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child is concerned, are very
light. Now do try to come, and I shall meet you with the dog-cart
at Winchester. Let me know your train.

\begin{flushright}{}```Yours faithfully,\textit{\emph{\noun{}}}\\
\textit{\emph{\noun{Jephro}}} \emph{\noun{}}\textit{\emph{\noun{Rucastle}}}.'\end{flushright}
\end{quotation}
{}``That is the letter which I have just received, Mr.\ Holmes,
and my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however,
that before taking the final step I should like to submit the whole
matter to your consideration.''

{}``Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the
question,'' said Holmes, smiling.

{}``But you would not advise me to refuse?''

{}``I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to
see a sister of mine apply for.''

{}``What is the meaning of it all, Mr.\ Holmes?''

{}``Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself
formed some opinion?''

{}``Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr.\ Rucastle
seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not possible that
his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the matter quiet for
fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that he humours her fancies
in every way in order to prevent an outbreak?''

{}``That is a possible solution\mdsh{---}in fact, as matters stand,
it is the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be
a nice household for a young lady.''

{}``But the money, Mr.\ Holmes the money!''

{}``Well, yes, of course the pay is good\mdsh{---}too good. That
is what makes me uneasy. Why should they give you \pounds 120 a year,
when they could have their pick for \pounds 40? There must be some
strong reason behind.''

{}``I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would understand
afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so much stronger if
I felt that you were at the back of me.''

{}``Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that
your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has
come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel about
some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt or in danger\mdsh{---}''

{}``Danger! What danger do you foresee?''

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-03.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Holmes shook his head gravely.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Holmes shook his head gravely. {}``It would cease to be a danger
if we could define it,'' said he. {}``But at any time, day or night,
a telegram would bring me down to your help.''

{}``That is enough.'' She rose briskly from her chair with the anxiety
all swept from her face. {}``I shall go down to Hampshire quite easy
in my mind now. I shall write to Mr.\ Rucastle at once, sacrifice
my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester to-morrow.'' With
a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both good-night and bustled
off upon her way.

{}``At least,'' said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending
the stairs, {}``she seems to be a young lady who is very well able
to take care of herself.''

{}``And she would need to be,'' said Holmes gravely. {}``I am much
mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past.''

It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled.
A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts turning
in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of human experience
this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual salary, the curious
conditions, the light duties, all pointed to something abnormal, though
whether a fad or a plot, or whether the man were a philanthropist
or a villain, it was quite beyond my powers to determine. As to Holmes,
I observed that he sat frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted
brows and an abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave
of his hand when I mentioned it. {}``Data!\ data!\ data!''\ he
cried impatiently. {}``I can't make bricks without clay.'' And yet
he would always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should
ever have accepted such a situation.

The telegram which we eventually received came late one night just
as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down to one
of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently indulged
in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a test-tube
at night and find him in the same position when I came down to breakfast
in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, and then, glancing
at the message, threw it across to me.

{}``Just look up the trains in Bradshaw,'' said he, and turned back
to his chemical studies.

The summons was a brief and urgent one.

\begin{quote}
{}``Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday to-morrow,''
it said. {}``Do come! I am at my wit's end. \textit{\emph{\noun{Hunter}}}.''
\end{quote}
{}``Will you come with me?'' asked Holmes, glancing up.

{}``I should wish to.''

{}``Just look it up, then.''

{}``There is a train at half-past nine,'' said I, glancing over
my Bradshaw. {}``It is due at Winchester at 11:30.''

{}``That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone
my analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the
morning.''

By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old
English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all
the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he threw
them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal spring
day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting
across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet
there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a man's
energy. All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills around
Aldershot, the little red and gray roofs of the farm-steadings peeped
out from amid the light green of the new foliage.

{}``Are they not fresh and beautiful?'' I cried with all the enthusiasm
of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.

But Holmes shook his head gravely.

{}``Do you know, Watson,'' said he, {}``that it is one of the curses
of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with
reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses,
and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only
thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the
impunity with which crime may be committed there.''

{}``Good heavens!'' I cried. {}``Who would associate crime with
these dear old homesteads?''

{}``They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson,
founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London
do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling
and beautiful countryside.''

{}``You horrify me!''

{}``But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion
can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane
so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard's
blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbors,
and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word
of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the
crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own
fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know
little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden
wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and
none the wiser. Had this lady who appeals to us for help gone to live
in Winchester, I should never have had a fear for her. It is the five
miles of country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she
is not personally threatened.''

{}``No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away.''

{}``Quite so. She has her freedom.''

{}``What \textit{can} be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?''

{}``I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would
cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is correct
can only be determined by the fresh information which we shall no
doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the cathedral,
and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has to tell.''

The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no distance
from the station, and there we found the young lady waiting for us.
She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch awaited us upon the
table.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-04.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I am so delighted that you
have come.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I am so delighted that you have come,'' she said earnestly.
{}``It is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what
I should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me.''

{}``Pray tell us what has happened to you.''

{}``I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr.\ Rucastle
to be back before three. I got his leave to come into town this morning,
though he little knew for what purpose.''

{}``Let us have everything in its due order.'' Holmes thrust his
long thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen.

{}``In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole,
with no actual ill-treatment from Mr.\ and Mrs.\ Rucastle. It is
only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and I
am not easy in my mind about them.''

{}``What can you not understand?''

{}``Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just
as it occurred. When I came down, Mr.\ Rucastle met me here and drove
me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he said, beautifully
situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, for it is a large square
block of a house, whitewashed, but all stained and streaked with damp
and bad weather. There are grounds round it, woods on three sides,
and on the fourth a field which slopes down to the Southampton highroad,
which curves past about a hundred yards from the front door. This
ground in front belongs to the house, but the woods all round are
part of Lord Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately
in front of the hall door has given its name to the place.

{}``I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever,
and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child.
There was no truth, Mr.\ Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to
us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs.\ Rucastle is
not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much younger
than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, while he can
hardly be less than forty-five. From their conversation I have gathered
that they have been married about seven years, that he was a widower,
and that his only child by the first wife was the daughter who has
gone to Philadelphia. Mr.\ Rucastle told me in private that the reason
why she had left them was that she had an unreasoning aversion to
her stepmother. As the daughter could not have been less than twenty,
I can quite imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable
with her father's young wife.

{}``Mrs.\ Rucastle seemed to me to be colorless in mind as well
as in feature. She impressed me neither favorably nor the reverse.
She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately
devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light gray
eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every little
want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her also in his
bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they seemed to be a happy
couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, this woman. She would
often be lost in deep thought, with the saddest look upon her face.
More than once I have surprised her in tears. I have thought sometimes
that it was the disposition of her child which weighed upon her mind,
for I have never met so utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little
creature. He is small for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately
large. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between
savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving pain
to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea of amusement,
and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning the capture of mice,
little birds, and insects. But I would rather not talk about the creature,
Mr.\ Holmes, and, indeed, he has little to do with my story.''

{}``I am glad of all details,'' remarked my friend, {}``whether
they seem to you to be relevant or not.''

{}``I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one unpleasant
thing about the house, which struck me at once, was the appearance
and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a man and his wife.
Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, uncouth man, with grizzled
hair and whiskers, and a perpetual smell of drink. Twice since I have
been with them he has been quite drunk, and yet Mr.\ Rucastle seemed
to take no notice of it. His wife is a very tall and strong woman
with a sour face, as silent as Mrs.\ Rucastle and much less amiable.
They are a most unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of
my time in the nursery and my own room, which are next to each other
in one corner of the building.

{}``For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was
very quiet; on the third, Mrs.\ Rucastle came down just after breakfast
and whispered something to her husband.

{}```Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, `we are very much obliged
to you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut
your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest iota
from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue dress
will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in your room,
and if you would be so good as to put it on we should both be extremely
obliged.'

{}``The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade
of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it bore
unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not have been
a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr.\ and Mrs.\ Rucastle
expressed a delight at the look of it, which seemed quite exaggerated
in its vehemence. They were waiting for me in the drawing-room, which
is a very large room, stretching along the entire front of the house,
with three long windows reaching down to the floor. A chair had been
placed close to the central window, with its back turned towards it.
In this I was asked to sit, and then Mr.\ Rucastle, walking up and
down on the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the
funniest stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine
how comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. Rucastle,
however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so much as smiled,
but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, anxious look upon her
face. After an hour or so, Mr.\ Rucastle suddenly remarked that it
was time to commence the duties of the day, and that I might change
my dress and go to little Edward in the nursery.

{}``Two days later this same performance was gone through under exactly
similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I sat in the
window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny stories of
which my employer had an immense repertoire, and which he told inimitably.
Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and moving my chair a little
sideways, that my own shadow might not fall upon the page, he begged
me to read aloud to him. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-05.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I read for about ten minutes.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
I read for about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter,
and then suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease
and to change my dress.

{}``You can easily imagine, Mr.\ Holmes, how curious I became as
to what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly
be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face away
from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire to see
what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be impossible,
but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been broken, so a happy
thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the glass in my handkerchief.
On the next occasion, in the midst of my laughter, I put my handkerchief
up to my eyes, and was able with a little management to see all that
there was behind me. I confess that I was disappointed. There was
nothing. At least that was my first impression. At the second glance,
however, I perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton
Road, a small bearded man in a gray suit, who seemed to be looking
in my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are usually
people there. This man, however, was leaning against the railings
which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I lowered my
handkerchief and glanced at Mrs.\ Rucastle to find her eyes fixed
upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, but I am convinced
that she had divined that I had a mirror in my hand and had seen what
was behind me. She rose at once.

{}```Jephro,' said she, `there is an impertinent fellow upon the
road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.'

{}```No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?'\ he asked.

{}```No, I know no one in these parts.'

{}```Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion
to him to go away.'

{}```Surely it would be better to take no notice.'

{}```No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn
round and wave him away like that.'

{}``I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs.\ Rucastle
drew down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have
not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor seen
the man in the road.''

{}``Pray continue,'' said Holmes. {}``Your narrative promises to
be a most interesting one.''

{}``You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may prove
to be little relation between the different incidents of which I speak.
On the very first day that I was at the Copper Beeches, Mr.\ Rucastle
took me to a small outhouse which stands near the kitchen door. As
we approached it I heard the sharp rattling of a chain, and the sound
as of a large animal moving about.

{}```Look in here!'\ said Mr.\ Rucastle, showing me a slit between
two planks. `Is he not a beauty?'

{}``I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of
a vague figure huddled up in the darkness.

{}```Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start
which I had given. `It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine,
but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do anything
with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, so that he
is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose every night, and
God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs upon. For goodness'
sake don't you ever on any pretext set your foot over the threshold
at night, for it's as much as your life is worth.'

{}``The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened
to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning.
It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the house
was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was standing, rapt
in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was aware that something
was moving under the shadow of the copper beeches. As it emerged into
the moonshine I saw what it was. It was a giant dog, as large as a
calf, tawny tinted, with hanging jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting
bones. It walked slowly across the lawn and vanished into the shadow
upon the other side. That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart
which I do not think that any burglar could have done.

{}``And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had,
as you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a great
coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the child was in
bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the furniture of my room
and by rearranging my own little things. There was an old chest of
drawers in the room, the two upper ones empty and open, the lower
one locked. I had filled the first two with my linen, and as I had
still much to pack away I was naturally annoyed at not having the
use of the third drawer. It struck me that it might have been fastened
by a mere oversight, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open
it. The very first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer
open. There was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would
never guess what it was. It was my coil of hair.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-06.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``I took it up and examined
it.''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint,
and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing obtruded
itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the drawer?
With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the contents, and
drew from the bonom my own hair. I laid the two tresses together,
and I assure you that they were identical. Was it not extraordinary?
Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at all of what it meant. I
returned the strange hair to the drawer, and I said nothing of the
matter to the Rucastles as I felt that I had put myself in the wrong
by opening a drawer which they had locked.

{}``I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr.\ Holmes,
and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. There
was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited at all.
A door which faced that which led into the quarters of the Tollers
opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. One day, however,
as I ascended the stair, I met Mr.\ Rucastle coming out through this
door, his keys in his hand, and a look on his face which made him
a very different person to the round, jovial man to whom I was accustomed.
His cheeks were red, his brow was all crinkled with anger, and the
veins stood out at his temples with passion. He locked the door and
hurried past me without a word or a look.

{}``This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the
grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I
could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four of
them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the fourth
was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I strolled
up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr.\ Rucastle came out
to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever.

{}```Ah!' said he, `you must not think me rude if I passed you without
a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with business matters.'

{}``I assured him that I was not offended. `By the way,' said I,
`you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one of
them has the shutters up.'

{}``He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled
at my remark.

{}```Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. `I have made my
dark room up there. But, dear me!\ what an observant young lady we
have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever believed
it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in his eyes
as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and annoyance, but no jest.

{}``Well, Mr.\ Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there
was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, I
was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, though
I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty\mdsh{---}a
feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this place.
They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's instinct which
gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, and I was keenly
on the lookout for any chance to pass the forbidden door.

{}``It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that,
besides Mr.\ Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to
do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large black
linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been drinking
hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when I came upstairs
there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at all that he had
left it there. Mr.\ and Mrs.\ Rucastle were both downstairs, and
the child was with them, so that I had an admirable opportunity. I
turned the key gently in the lock, opened the door, and slipped through.

{}``There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and uncarpeted,
which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Round this corner
were three doors in a line, the first and third of which were open.
They each led into an empty room, dusty and cheerless, with two windows
in the one and one in the other, so thick with dirt that the evening
light glimmered dimly through them. The centre door was closed, and
across the outside of it had been fastened one of the broad bars of
an iron bed, padlocked at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened
at the other with stout cord. The door itself was locked as well,
and the key was not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly
with the shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer
from beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there
was a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the passage
gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it might veil,
I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room and saw a shadow
pass backward and forward against the little slit of dim light which
shone out from under the door. A mad, unreasoning terror rose up in
me at the sight, Mr.\ Holmes. My overstrung nerves failed me suddenly,
and I turned and ran\mdsh{---}ran as though some dreadful hand were
behind me clutching at the skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage,
through the door, and straight into the arms of Mr.\ Rucastle, who
was waiting outside.

{}```So,' said he, smiling, `it was you, then. I thought that it
must be when I saw the door open.'

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics{advsh11-copp-07.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``Oh, I am so frightened!''\ I
panted.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}```Oh, I am so frightened!'\ I panted.

{}``'My dear young lady!\ my dear young lady!'\mdsh{---}you cannot
think how caressing and soothing his manner was\mdsh{---}`and what
has frightened you, my dear young lady?'

{}``But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I
was keenly on my guard against him.

{}```I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered.
`But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was frightened
and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in there!'

{}```Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly.

{}```Why, what did you think?' I asked.

{}```Why do you think that I lock this door?'

{}```I am sure that I do not know.'

{}``'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you
see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner.

{}```I am sure if I had known\mdsh{---}'

{}``'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over
that threshold again'\mdsh{---}here in an instant the smile hardened
into a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a demon\mdsh{---}`I'll
throw you to the mastiff.'

{}``I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that
I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing until
I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I thought
of you, Mr.\ Holmes. I could not live there longer without some advice.
I was frightened of the house, of the man of the woman, of the servants,
even of the child. They were all horrible to me. If I could only bring
you down all would be well. Of course I might have fled from the house,
but my curiosity was almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon
made up. I would send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went
down to the office, which is about half a mile from the house, and
then returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into
my mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but
I remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of insensibility
that evening, and I knew that he was the only one in the household
who had any influence with the savage creature, or who would venture
to set him free. I slipped in in safety and lay awake half the night
in my joy at the thought of seeing you. I had no difficulty in getting
leave to come into Winchester this morning, but I must be back before
three o'clock, for Mr.\ and Mrs.\ Rucastle are going on a visit,
and will be away all the evening, so that I must look after the child.
Now I have told you all my adventures, Mr.\ Holmes, and I should
be very glad if you could tell me what it all means, and, above all,
what I should do.''

Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story.
My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in his
pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon his face.

{}``Is Toller still drunk?'' he asked.

{}``Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs.\ Rucastle that she could do
nothing with him.''

{}``That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?''

{}``Yes.''

{}``Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?''

{}``Yes, the wine-cellar.''

{}``You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very
brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could
perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not think
you a quite exceptional woman.''

{}``I will try. What is it?''

{}``We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend
and I.\ The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will,
we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs.\ Toller, who might
give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some errand,
and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate matters immensely.''

{}``I will do it.''

{}``Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of
course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been brought
there to personate someone, and the real person is imprisoned in this
chamber. That is obvious. As to who this prisoner is, I have no doubt
that it is the daughter, Miss Alice Rucastle, if I remember right,
who was said to have gone to America. You were chosen, doubtless,
as resembling her in height, figure, and the color of your hair. Hers
had been cut off, very possibly in some illness through which she
has passed, and so, of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By
a curious chance you came upon her tresses. The man in the road was
undoubtedly some friend of hers\mdsh{---}possibly her fiance\mdsh{---}and
no doubt, as you wore the girl's dress and were so like her, he was
convinced from your laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards
from your gesture, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that
she no longer desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night
to prevent him from endeavoring to communicate with her. So much is
fairly clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition
of the child.''

{}``What on earth has that to do with it?'' I ejaculated.

{}``My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining
light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the parents.
Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have frequently
gained my first real insight into the character of parents by studying
their children. This child's disposition is abnormally cruel, merely
for cruelty's sake, and whether he derives this from his smiling father,
as I should suspect, or from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor
girl who is in their power.''

{}``I am sure that you are right, Mr.\ Holmes,'' cried our client.
{}``A thousand things come back to me which make me certain that
you have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to
this poor creature.''

{}``We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning
man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall
be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the mystery.''

We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we reached
the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside public-house.
The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining like burnished
metal in the light of the setting sun, were sufficient to mark the
house even had Miss Hunter not been standing smiling on the door-step.

{}``Have you managed it?'' asked Holmes.

A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. {}``That is
Mrs.\ Toller in the cellar,'' said she. {}``Her husband lies snoring
on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates of
Mr.\ Rucastle's.''

{}``You have done well indeed!'' cried Holmes with enthusiasm. {}``Now
lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black business.''

We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a passage,
and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss Hunter had
described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the transverse bar. Then
he tried the various keys in the lock, but without success. No sound
came from within, and at the silence Holmes's face clouded over.

{}``I trust that we are not too late,'' said he. {}``I think, Miss
Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put your
shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our way in.''

It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united strength.
Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There was no furniture
save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a basketful of linen.
The skylight above was open, and the prisoner gone.

{}``There has been some villainy here,'' said Holmes; {}``this
beauty has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim
off.''

{}``But how?''

{}``Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it.''
He swung himself up onto the roof. {}``Ah, yes,'' he cried, {}``here's
the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did
it.''

{}``But it is impossible,'' said Miss Hunter; {}``the ladder was
not there when the Rucastles went away.''

{}``He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever
and dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were
he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it
would be as well for you to have your pistol ready.''

The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at the
door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy stick in
his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the wall at the
sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and confronted him.

%
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-08.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small {}``You villain!''\ said he,
{}``where's your daughter?''}\end{center}
\end{figure}
{}``You villain!''\ said he, {}``where's your daughter?''

The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open skylight.

{}``It is for me to ask you that,'' he shrieked, {}``you thieves!
Spies and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power.
I'll serve you!'' He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard
as he could go.

{}``He's gone for the dog!'' cried Miss Hunter.

{}``I have my revolver,'' said I.

{}``Better close the front door,'' cried Holmes, and we all rushed
down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we heard
the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a horrible
worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An elderly man
with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out at a side door.

{}``My God!'' he cried. {}``Someone has loosed the dog. It's not
been fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!''

Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Toller
hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its black muzzle
buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and screamed upon the
ground. %
\begin{figure}[htbp]
\noindent \begin{center}\includegraphics[%
  width=1\columnwidth]{advsh11-copp-09.jpg}\end{center}

\noindent \begin{center}\emph{\small Running up, I blew its brains
out.}\end{center}
\end{figure}
Running up, I blew its brains out, and it fell over with its keen
white teeth still meeting in the great creases of his neck. With much
labour we separated them and carried him, living but horribly mangled,
into the house. We laid him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having
dispatched the sobered Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did
what I could to relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him
when the door opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room.

{}``Mrs.\ Toller!'' cried Miss Hunter.

{}``Yes, miss. Mr.\ Rucastle let me out when he came back before
he went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know what
you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains were
wasted.''

{}``Ha!'' said Holmes, looking keenly at her. {}``It is clear that
Mrs. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else.''

{}``Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know.''

{}``Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several
points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark.''

{}``I will soon make it clear to you,'' said she; {}``and I'd have
done so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's
police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the one
that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend too.

{}``She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time
that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no say
in anything, but it never really became bad for her until after she
met Mr.\ Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could learn, Miss
Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so quiet and patient,
she was, that she never said a word about them but just left everything
in Mr.\ Rucastle's hands. He knew he was safe with her; but when
there was a chance of a husband coming forward, who would ask for
all that the law would give him, then her father thought it time to
put a stop on it. He wanted her to sign a paper, so that whether she
married or not, he could use her money. When she wouldn't do it, he
kept on worrying her until she got brain-fever, and for six weeks
was at death's door. Then she got better at last, all worn to a shadow,
and with her beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change
in her young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be.''

{}``Ah,'' said Holmes, {}``I think that what you have been good
enough to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce
all that remains. Mr.\ Rucastle then, I presume, took to this system
of imprisonment?''

{}``Yes, sir.''

{}``And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid
of the disagreeable persistence of Mr.\ Fowler.''

{}``That was it, sir.''

{}``But Mr.\ Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should
be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain arguments,
metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your interests were
the same as his.''

{}``Mr.\ Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman,''
said Mrs.\ Toller serenely.

{}``And in this way he managed that your good man should have no
want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment when
your master had gone out.''

{}``You have it, sir, just as it happened.''

{}``I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs.\ Toller,'' said Holmes,
{}``for you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us.
And here comes the country surgeon and Mrs.\ Rucastle, so I think.
Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, as
it seems to me that our \emph{locus standi} now is rather a questionable
one.''

And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the copper
beeches in front of the door. Mr.\ Rucastle survived, but was always
a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of his devoted wife.
They still live with their old servants, who probably know so much
of Rucastle's past life that he finds it difficult to part from them.
Mr.\ Fowler and Miss Rucastle were married, by special license, in
Southampton the day after their flight, and he is now the holder of
a government appointment in the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet
Hunter, my friend Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested
no further interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre
of one of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school
at Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success.
\end{document}
